Harry Potter and The Threat of Solitude
by AccomodatorOmega
Summary: HD Draco runs away and has a new view of the world, is it an honest one? Or has Harry been drawn into a plot that could threaten his very life and take away eveyone he has ever loved? Some dark images and they may get darker.
1. Chapter 1: Dreams of Friends and Death

**Chapter 1: Dreams of Death and Friendship**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the characters, just the plot. This fanfic will have slash, how detailed it will be I don't quite know yet . . . also it disregards the sixth book.**

**This fanfic was brought to you grammatically correct (well it should be . . .) with the help of Ibrium!!! The ony person who can live with my horrible spelling and grammer XD.**

**Alternate Title: Adventures of Ferret Boy, Scar Head, and Dumbeldor (spelt wrong on purpose) with comedic moments but it's not soley a comedy . . . **

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Harry Potter's summer had not started on a sweet note and had yet to become anything above mundane. The resurgence of Death Eater activity influenced Dumbledore's decision to confine Harry to his Aunt and Uncle's house. The prospect of not being able to spend his summer, let alone his sixteenth birthday, with his two best friends at the Burrow had put a damper on things. Instead, he had filled his first month of break with being, once again, the Dursley's servant. With nothing better to do or look forward to, he had silently complied.

Harry had just cooked breakfast, as usual, and was surprised by a loud noise and subsequent crash. He ran to the noise, which has come from the living room, and flung open the door to meet a funny sight.

"What in Merlin's name is _that_!?" Harry managed to say between bouts of laughter. He was pointing at possibly the ugliest dog _ever_. It looked exactly like Dudley with fat rolls everywhere and short sandy blonde hair. The massive animal had apparently knocked over Aunt Petunia's vase because it lay shattered in front of the fireplace.

"It's my new dog, Potthead!" Dudley exclaimed, excessively proud of his new acquisition. His bubble was soon burst when his mother rushed into the room followed by his red-faced father.

"What in Go— " Aunt Petunia began when she became dead silent and proceeded to pass out.

Uncle Vernon nearly flipped his lid but held back, much to Harry's disappointment. Instead he muttered, "Get that bloody dog OUT OF MY HOUSE . . . NOW!!!"

Dudley waddled out of the room as fast as his chubby short legs could take him. Harry would have laughed but Vernon was staring at him now.

"What— " was all that could escape his lips before Vernon lashed out on him.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LET THIS HAPPEN! GO TO YOUR CUPBOARD AND STAY THERE UNTIL YOU ROT! I GAVE THAT VASE TO PETUNIA FOR OUR WEDDING YOU INCOMPENTENT FREAK!!!" Vernon was the deepest shade of purple possible and, out of air, collapsed on the nearest chair. "Clean this mess up and finish breakfast first, if you can manage not to screw that up."

Harry looked at his Uncle, completely frozen with shock; he hadn't done _anything_, he didn't even know Dudley had a dog. Knowing that if he argued things would become much, much worse, he stealthily left the room and fetched the broom and cursed to himself as he saw that the bacon had managed to burn itself at medium heat during the fiasco. He quickly put some new bacon on the stove before proceeding. When he re-entered the living room he found that his Aunt had regained consciousness and was glaring at him full of hatred, nothing new, just somewhat more deranged than usual. Not wanting to char the bacon again he cleaned up the pieces of vase rapidly. _Imagine my luck, getting in trouble for something I didn't do only two days after break started; that's got to be a record_.

Harry's confinement to the cupboard didn't last long because a week later his cousin bored of the dog and Harry was forced to walk, feed, and take care of "Spot" as Dudley had so elegantly named the animal. Harry was just glad the dog didn't stay with him because it smelled like fecal matter and it tormented Hedwig when she was napping in her cage.

This silent submission had disheartened the Dursley's and they soon lost interest in actively trying to torment him. So he spent his days relatively unbothered, except when he had to tend to Spot. This gave him excessive free time in which he actually finished _all_ of his summer homework and for once he actually understood what he was doing in Potions. That was all in the first two weeks of summer break. Not having much else to do he wrote to Ron and Hermione.

_Dear Ron and Hermione,_

_Don't fret, I'm alive and in one piece. The Dursley's have been leaving me alone because I haven't reacted and they aren't entertained anymore. Although, they have "entrusted a great responsibility" to me: taking care of Dudley's horrendous dog. Hope you guys are having a better summer than me, see you at school._

_Your Best Mate,_

_Harry_

With one day until his birthday, he occupied himself be staring at the ceiling of his cramped "room", Dudley was having a friend stay all summer so the Dursleys had taken his room from him and literally thrown him back into the cupboard under the stairs. As he was much taller then he was as an eleven or twelve year old it felt more cramped than before, but as he was not bothered by the seemingly claustrophobic surroundings, he soon adjusted. He had just counted the one-hundred and thirty-seventh spider when her heard a tapping at his window; it was Hedwig with a letter, most likely from Hermione and Ron.

_Dear Harry,_

_Hey, mate, sorry about the lock down, it really sucks. If you want, I bet I could get Fred and George to help me break you out again and Dad could put some extra protection spells—_

The ink had been interrupted and Harry could see that Hermione had take the quill and written.

_Don't listen to Ron, he just misses you, we all miss you. Dumbledore confined you for a reason so you'll stay there, don't worry; only a month and some until school. Look at it this way, now you'll have time to finish your homework_. Harry could see Hermione smiling at that particular note and Ron looking disgusted, but also nervous because he probably hadn't started any of his homework.

_You Best Friends_

_Ron and Hermione_

_P,S. Seriously, think about it mate, the car is fixed . . . kind of . . . _

_P.P.S. Happy Birthday mate!!!_

Attached was a bag of Bernie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, a jar of broom polish, and a book, obviously from Hermione, titled _A Beginners Guide to Wandless Magic_.

How right Hermione was, Harry laughed to himself, just like her to mention homework. A few minutes later, another owl came; it was Earl. After he managed to collide with the already half open window, Harry grabbed the rather large box; it was a cake from Mrs. Weasely saying _Happy 16th Birthday Harry!_

He was truly happy to have friends,but he did like the new sense of quiet. With that in mind, he peacefully went to sleep unaware of what the next day would bring.

_The ocean beats rhythmically against the shore; with a feather-like touch it laps at his feet. The sun is slowly being consumed by the far of horizon. A scream pulses in the air for the briefest of moments, jerking Harry's attention to the left. His eyes meet a deathly sight, body parts were strewn everywhere, yet he sees no heads which he feels should be odd. As soon as he blinks it's gone with no trace of it ever existing other than a tinge of blood red on the surface of the receding ocean. He walks, detached from all sense, down the beach for about fifteen minutes until it ends and he is suddenly engulfed by darkness. He can't see, move, or feel anything but somehow it doesn't bother him until a screen drops out of nowhere. 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1, the film counted down, then, after a few moments of breaking video, a clip began. _

_It was Platform Nine and Three-Quarters; he was looking through someone else's eyes because he saw himself boarding the train with Fred and Georges helping with his luggage. The vision of the person suddenly blurred, he proceeded to watch the clip in a cloudy haze, and he, or rather the person he was seeing through, was strutting through the compartments. A short time later he entered a compartment and immediately he knew it was his as the vibrant red hair was easy to see even blurred and for some reason he, well the Harry he saw, reached out his hand— the clip abruptly ended and screeched with an empty reel. Harry covered his ears and closed his eyes. _

_When he opened them again he was surrounded by darkness once more. He was tired and pain began to pulse through his right hand and then the rest of his arm. A spotlight appeared to reveal he had not a right hand, but a bloody stub. He tried to scream in terror, pain, or anything, but his lungs were full of blood that wasn't his own. He was choking on death. He dropped to the ground, if there even was one, and lifted his tear filled eyes to plead to someone, anything, as he did his vision began to scratch out like a broken T.V. and for the briefest moment he saw strands of white-blonde escape the layers of darkness along with a hand that was reaching for his severed one. _

_The moment the hands made contact Harry was lurched back into consciousness._

Harry sat up in a cold sweat screaming and clawing and his throat. He was dumbfounded and had no idea what the dream meant, if anything. Outside it was pitch black, sending a shiver down his spine. He thought about writing to Dumbledore but quickly dismissed the thought because the dream hadn't been inflicted by Voldermort; after all, his scar didn't hurt, it was something else. He squinted his eyes in deep thought but soon gave up with fatigue. Harry flopped back down onto his bed and attempted to go back to sleep.

Every time he closed his eyes he could smell and taste remnants of blood from the dream. Thoroughly frustrated he look at the clock, it was four a.m. Not liking the starless sky he turned on a lamp and read the book Hermione had sent him the previous day.

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Malfoy Manor July 29th

Narcissa Malfoy was outraged and in no mood to give in to the demands of her husband who had escaped Azkaban two weeks prior, "Like Bloody Hell! _My_ son will NOT become a Death Eater, EVER! And if you don't leave _my_ son and me alone, Lucius, so help me god I'll rip off your every last appendage before your pretty arse could say 'Muggle'!"

"Narcissa, love, calm down. You knew it was inevitable. The Dark Lord calls for all relatives to join his following. After all, _our_ son can make his own decision as he is sixteen." Lucius smugly replied.

Narcissa inelegantly grunted but complied. They stiffly walked to Draco's personal wing. They were met with a surprising revelation; he wasn't there. Caught off guard, it took them a while to realize that a note was tacked to the left bed post.

_Mother, Father,_

_Father I regret (well actually I don't) to inform you that I never intended to blindly follow you into the "company" of the Dark Lord. He is deranged and has bad fashion sense. That aside, Mother I hope this pleases you, as it should because I know this is what you want. Don't mistake that for my core reason. As you are well aware I am sixteen and being a legal adult wizard I can leave the estate without your consent, and you can't stop me. That's what led me to truly consider my future path. More specifically how I will survive the coming war. Therefore, I have officially decided that it would be much more advantageous to be on the side of the light. Although I'm not particularly fond of Dumbledore or Potter it is a necessary change of allegiances and more importantly_ my _decision. As such, please do not contact me unless you agree with my decision. For the mean time, I will be on my own. _

_Sincerely,_

_Draconis Lucius Malfoy_

Narcissa could do nothing but smile at this delightful news while Lucius could barely keep from imploding. He hastily crumpled and incinerated the note, leaving only a wisp of ash, then abruptly strode from the room without uttering a single word.

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July 30th

Malfoy had slept his first night outside of the manor on a pile of leaves and covered by nothing other than a cloak. It sucked. He was chilled and sore and wasn't fairing any better in his mind.

_What was I thinking_, Malfoy thought, after having walked four miles without seeming to have gone anywhere. _Potter win against the Dark Lord!?_ But he was then reminded of the dream that had truly spurred his change of loyalties. It had been a simple dream, yet it had struck to his very core. He lapsed into the memory,

_Draco had returned to the Hogwart's express, he looked around and much to his amazement he saw himself! He was eleven and as arrogant as ever (although Draco probably wouldn't phrase it that way). The scene changed and he was no longer in a body, but a mere observer in a compartment and before he could look at the occupants his eyes burned and his burned. He blinked away the tears and when he opened his eyes he saw the one and only Harry Potter surrounded by a halo of light where all else was blackness. He merely stared in disbelief when Potter reached his had out. His vision cut out again and all he could see was Potter's right hand, the one he had just reached out. It the exact same position just ready for another hand to claim it; so he did, he leaned forward and shook it in friendship. He sensed a presence and could hear, no, that wasn't it, he_ felt _the pain of Potter screaming. Draco ran blindly to find him, not knowing why he was doing so, but before he found him he was ripped away out of the dream with a cold jerk_.

It had been so simple, _so bloody simple_, his mind emphasized, _damn bugger just had to find a new way to torment me._ Draco, unconvinced by even his own thought was thoroughly intrigued as to what, if anything, the dream could mean. He walked in inner turmoil when he finally stumbled upon a road, literally, _damn muggles need to mark the bloody curbs._

Draco stood for a few moments as he realized he had no idea where to go or how to get there. He wouldn't be safe at any of his friends' houses and he didn't know anyone not affiliated with the Dark Lord that would willingly let him stay. He was pulled out of his train of thoughts when a great metal trap honked at him. Not about to look scared, he walked toward the car. As he approached the window of the car rolled down and the face of a young woman popped out. She was plain with pale blue eyes and shoulder length dirty blonde hair and she was seated next to a nondescript man.

"Where ya headed, sweet thing?" The cheery lady questioned. The driver simply stared forward tapping his fingers on the wheel, clearly annoyed. _What? Did she just call me sweet thing . . ._

"Nowhere specific." Draco put forth awkwardly. _Muggles must be off their rockers, why are they trying to help me?_ His vague answer must have shown his confusion because the woman began to speak again.

"Well, don't be shy, sweetie. Get in the car; we'll give you a ride." She now had a determined, and slightly disturbing, smirk plastered on her face.

Draco sensed he should say no and simply walk away, what's it matter if he doesn't have a direction as long as he's not in that car. He was about to respond but was cut off by the driver.

"Look, hun, he obviously doesn't want a ride." With that the car abruptly sped up and left the curb and Draco to stand in the coming darkness. Slightly shaken by the events, but happy with the outcome, he trudged forward. Finally he decided to take a break and sat down on a battered bench under a flickering lamppost. Cold, hungry, and sore Draco grumbled and took off his shoes to massage some warmth back into his toes when the light died. _Shit_. Draco put his shoes back on but, unable to find the end of the bench he took out his wand and said _lumos_, quickly situating himself to be as comfortable as possible under his thin cloak. He closed his eyes to sleep and right before he dozed off a rush of wind snapped him back to awareness. Looking for the source of disturbance, he found a double-decker bus hovering a foot above the pavement. The door swung open to reveal a scruffy looking man.

"Need a ride, laddy? The Knight Bus will take you anywhere in England."

"Anywhere but here, and safe from Death Eaters." Draco blandly replied and slowly climbed onto the bus. He quickly found a bed and fell asleep instantly.

Hours later he was jostled awake by a firm shake. He slowly opened his eyes and groggily asked, "Wha' time is it?"

"Midnight, that'll make it the . . . 31st of July. Well then, here we are laddy, last stop of the night in this area so ya gotta' get off. Anyways, this is as secluded and unmagical as you can get: Privet Drive, Surrey." Stan informed Draco.

Draco, still tired, nodded his head in compliance, yawned and stepped off the bus.

"Good luck laddy." And with that the Knight Bus vanished with a gust of wind, nearly toppling Draco to the ground. He saved himself by grabbing a fence. Only slightly angry about having been awoken, he wasn't any more excited when he saw that he still hadn't a decent place to sleep. Muttering about incompetent, ignorant bus drivers, he occupied himself with kicking a rock until he happened upon a dark secluded park. Figuring it was the best he'd find tonight, he laid on the closest bench and promptly fell asleep. Lost in unknown dreams, Draco would never have been able to predict a very interesting arousal.

Even with a cloak, Harry was terribly cold. Thinking that it might have been a bad idea to go for a walk in the middle of the night, he contemplated turning back to the comforts of a cramped cupboard. _Yeah, no, maybe I'll be better of outside_, Harry rationalized. He walked silently down the empty streets and every once in a while saw a flickering streetlight or the occasional wandering stray cat. He could see hints of the coming dawn. Despite the crisp air, he couldn't help felling a warm sensation run through his body because it was his sixteenth birthday. Deciding to watch the sunrise he turned right to go to the park and sit more peacefully.

Looking everywhere but where he was about to sit, he was thoroughly shocked when he heard a deep breath from behind him. He turned around at lightning speed to find the most unusual sight. Someone was actually _sleeping_ on a bench, in a park, and that someone had almost gotten sat on by Harry Potter. _Wait_, Harry checked, _That's a wizarding cloak, it even has the Hogwart's emblem on it . . . why would a student—_ in mid thought the unknown Hogwart's student rustled and rolled over, in fact they rolled right off of the bench and onto the plush grass below. _They didn't even wake up, they must have been really exhausted . . ._

Harry would have laughed more if not for the looming confusion. When he leaned over to see if the person was alright he nearly had a heart attack. For it was non other than his nemesis; Draco Malfoy! As if on cue, the sun finished rising and the sleeping boy with white blonde hair decided at that same moment to open his eyes. The combination of the deep pools of silver and the bright warmth of the sun met it produced an ethereal glow the boy's face taking Harry's breath away but only for a moment as his awe was interrupted by an angry sleep-filled voice question,

"Why the bloody hell are _you_ here? And please close your mouth, I do not need to smell your horrid breathe ever, let alone this early in the morning."

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**Please leave comments/reviews, it would mean a lot to me as this is my first long fanfic.**

**It was made apparent to me that he couldn't possibly have a window in his cupboard but I needed one for the story so deal. XD**


	2. Chapter 2: Propositions and Deals

**Chapter 2: Propositions and Deals**

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, I don't own any characters blah, blah, yeah.**

**Author Notes: Wee, I got comments XD!!! The impossible window caught a lot of attention , if it seems like nothing is happening yet there is something happening, or if it feels like it's moving slow or something, leave a note. Well, leave a note anyways . . . yeah comments.**

**Thanks: My wonderful beta, Ibrium, and all those that have commented and will comment.**

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"Well,_ excuse_ me for living here, I didn't exactly choose to by any means. And if you must know, I wasn't exactly expecting to find the _almighty_ Draco Malfoy on a bench in a Muggle park. So you can't blame me for being a little surprised." Harry answered wittily, every word dripping with either sarcasm or superiority.

"Well, since you've finally realized my status of 'almighty', I will allow you to feed me and give me a place to stay." Draco hoped his condescending humor would work, or at least have a chance, _really how could he deny me, I'm in need,_ Draco quickly assured himself, _it's not like I'm asking for a shag_.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Harry had found Malfoy's proposition hilarious. He doubled over in laughter and was crying because he was laughing so hard. _God, what could possibly make _Malfoy_ think I'd say yes? _This made Malfoy look even more desperate and delusional, _he might as well ask me to drop my wand and just take it, he must be planning something. Then again—_

"Okay, ha ha, 'laughing at Draco' time is over." Draco sneered, "Oh, come off it Potter, it couldn't possible be _that _funny."

"Alright, alright." He stopped laughing but still had an incredibly wide grin plastered on his face when he finally said, in a much calmer manner, "And why exactly would I help a prick like you, it's not like we've hated each other for years and have been arch rivals, oh wait, we have, haven't we?"

Draco, for some odd reason, did not feel the desire nor the inclination to tell Potter about his defection from the Dark Side. _Well, it wasn't _really _a defection, I mean I only saw the truth . . . _Draco tried to tell himself as he still wasn't used to the idea of being 'good'. After all, he liked being a pain in the ass. He still could hate Potter at school even if they were on the same side, _right, so there really isn't a need to tell Potter, he'd just try to make me all goody-two-shoes or something. _He resorted to the Slytherin way out: lying. Well, it's not like he was telling a whole lie, or for that matter a whole truth when he responded, "Look Potter, to be honest (vaguely), I'm what you could call between a rock and a hard place. Suffice to say I ended up in the cold, by myself, with _no _money, or food, anything at all besides my wand and the clothes on my back. And, as you ran into me and all, that must be some kind of sign." _Wow ,even I don't believe the crap I'm spewing._

Harry was only half listening because he was actually thinking about saying yes, amazingly. _If I could convince the Dursley' to, let Malfoy stay, but where, then I could get him back for all the nasty things he's done to Ron, Hermoine, and me over the years, but is it worth it? _Draco, having noticed his lack of focus, snapped his fingers in front of Potter's face.

"Wake up Potter, you heard me right?" Draco hoped he wouldn't have to repeat that drivel.

"Okay, sure." Harry said indifferently but with a smile that implied — something.

"Wait, what!?" Draco was caught off guard by the affirmative answer, _what was with his smile . . _.

"You heard me you can stay . . . I mean, I accept the privilege of attending to you my liege, my almighty Lord Malfoy." Harry bowed as he over dramatized the last half of his acceptance statement, after all, he was simply mocking Malfoy and, as an after thought, he added, "But we will have to ask my Aunt and Uncle. I could always 'persuade' them but we don't exactly have an extra room . . ."

Draco had abandoned all attempts at hiding his surprise by this time and had consequently lost all control of his facial muscles, meaning that his jaw was hanging slack.

"Look if you changed your mind—" The shocked look emitted by Draco made Harry think he had offered, or rather accepted, something that had only been said as a joke.

"No, no that's not it. Well, so then, what's for breakfast?" Draco quickly recovered, and attempted to regain the upper hand.

Harry considered this for a moment and checked his watch, _7:10 a.m._, "Well, the Dursley's aren't up, hopefully, and seeing as you probably didn't know that it's my birthday today, we'll be whatever I want for breakfast." Harry answered smugly. He turned on his heels and began walking home and casually yelled over his shoulder, "Come along my liege, you must be famished."

They walked the rest of the way to 4 Privet Drive, in silence, interrupted only by the occasional chirp of a bird, or someone leaving for work. The lack of conversation was necessary for Harry to formulate as many conniving plans as possible, _What's the worst possible chore . . . well, the roof needs to be re-shingled. Picking up shit would be demeaning, but that's just too easy . . . scrub the floors, no I just did that last week. But where will he stay? I mean, really, if I even _can _get the Dursley's to let him stay, there isn't a free bed for use, and it's not like they'll make him stay with me in the cupboard. I wonder if they'll go for 'he'll do the chores' excuse. Well, if not, no loss to me. _His stream of thoughts came to a halt when Draco said the strangest thing, as it wasn't asked condescendingly,

"So, Potter, where are your shadows?"

"Excuse me?" Harry asked confused by the simple question.

"Where are your friends? I mean, if they were around you wouldn't be walking alone in the early morning." Draco observed and he rolled his eyes at Harry's uncomfortable disposition.

"Not that it matters to you, but Dumbeldore ordered me to stay with my muggle relatives because of the increased number of Death Eater attacks. I'm surprised you didn't already know, figured you'd be gloating or something." Harry answered in a monotone.

That shut Draco up real fast. _Geez, I wasn't trying to insult him, well, I guess I deserve it, somewhat, for all the times I have _gloated_ over the years._ He wasn't even remotely aware as to why Harry helped him or why neither was being more aggressive to the other. _Well, I guess things could be strange. Okay, maybe not. It's not like I choose to happen upon Potter's living area, yes, that's right, this is that bus man's fault for taking me here. No fate, sign crap what-so-ever. _Somehow this didn't quell the uncertain feeling burying itself deeper and deeper into his gut.

In his quandary, silence overcame them once more. It wasn't too awkward as they arrived at their destination. Loud voices and barking could be heard the moment Harry opened the door.

"Where the bloody hell is that boy! If I don't have breakfast in ten minutes from that _freak _he's gone—" Uncle Vernon was the deepest purple and it looked like he was about to breathe fire and spit acid.

The over-excited Spot decided at that moment to knock Draco to the ground and slobber all over his already not-so-pristine face. This unwanted attention was soon followed some more; Vernon was glaring daggers at him, as his rant was so conveniently interrupted by the dog's action. _Oh, shit, _Harry thought, _this can _not _be good._

"_You_," Vernon was so livid he could do nothing but whisper his fury, "Where have you been and—" realizing the dog had attacked something living, he spotted the other boy present with white blonde hair and a horror stricken expression, "Who is _he_?" He emphasized the last word by thrusting his finger at the unknown boy.

Harry couldn't help but grin, but was forced to mask it with a look of indifference, at the prospect of humiliating Draco so quickly, "Oh, him? He's Draco Malfoy, Petunia's been talking about how she wished there was more help around the house— and he's like you (a muggle) and is willing to help me with the chores— for free of course." _Hopefully they'll go for it, I mean they aren't the sharpest tool in the shed and Petunia and Vernon couldn't possibly refuse extra help, especially if they think he's a muggle. _Harry reasoned to himself.

Draco was appalled, _Did he just insinuate that I'm a muggle!? _His anger was growing rapidly when he caught the look on Harry's poorly masked face clearly saying 'If you say _anything _(specifically that you're a wizard) they'll throw your ass out faster than you can say 'Rusty muggle spoon'' Seeing no other way out he stood up, straightened himself up and bowed deeply mumbling a barely audible, "At your service." The only reason Harry wasn't laughing was because then the Dursely's would suspect something was out of place.

"Whatever, as long as he isn't a _freak _and all the chores get done." Aunt Petunia spoke for the first time throughout the fiasco in a curt manner. "But he's to stay with you, in your _room_." She then promptly left the room without another word. Vernon left still livid, but, at the idea of having a new person to boss around prevented him from saying anything further. This left Dudley and Piers staring at Harry and Draco.

"Hey, Dudley, looks like we have a new punching bag." Piers whispered mischievously to Dudley with a grin on his face.

"What does he mean Potter?" Draco questioned suspiciously with narrowed eyes.

"Well," Harry, completely ignoring Draco's inquiry, clapped his hands together, "Looks like I should start breakfast. Have fun." He held an ear to ear smile, waved good bye to Draco as he entered the kitchen. Just before the door closed behind him he mouthed the word 'run' to Draco and smirked.

"Wait, 'run'?" Draco confused looked at the much larger boys that occupied the room; they were cracking what seemed to be every bone in their bodies and then some. He soon put two and two together and managed to think one word, _Crap._ With that he sprinted in the opposite direction with his pursuers, attempting to catch up, waddling behind him.

Thirty uneventful minutes later (at least for Harry) the dishes were done and Vernon had gone to work and Petunia had gone shopping. Petunia had almost stayed, sure that Harry would break or blow something up, was persuaded by her precious Dudley-kins to go and get ice cream. As Harry began putting the clean and dry dishes away when a sweating, out-of-breath, Draco collide full force with an all-too-innocent-looking Harry.

"Having some fun, eh Draco?" Harry bemusedly asked with an anticipatory look.

"How," -breath- "could," -breath- "you," -breath- "do," -breath- "to . . . me?" Draco asked doubled over holding his ribs trying to regain a normal breathing rate.

"I thought you would like a morning run after having slept on a stiff park bench all night." Harry put forth and then fully turned to look at the disheveled boy in front of him, with a fake astonished expression and asked, "Didn't you enjoy it? I mean Dudley's slow, but Piers is faster than he looks, so I figured it wouldn't call for _too _much physical exertion."

Having recovered, somewhat, Draco grabbed the collar of Harry's shirt, "You royally suck. Now where can I—"

"Look, there he is Dudley." Piers, his voice, came from the hallway full of excitement and adrenaline.

"Damn you Potter." Draco gave him one last death glare and fled the room to find safety elsewhere. Harry could hear him bound up the stairs. _Probably thinks there'll be somewhere to hide, how wrong his is, how so very wrong._ He laughed to himself as his cubby cousin and Piers came in the kitchen wearing expectant looks.

"Where'd he go?" They asked it unison.

"Upstairs." Harry monotonously answered without even looking away from his job.

After Harry completed the chore of doing the dishes, he went outside to work in the garden _and_, more importantly, to have a better vantage point of Draco's predicament. Every few minutes Draco would scamper by wildly and shoot Harry a dirty look before disappearing behind a shrub or tree. Of course, Harry would always point out his hiding place so Draco eventually stopped going outside to hide. He'd only hear fleeting screams of Draco almost getting caught followed by moments of thumping silence.

After taking a break to wash his hands, Dudley came bumbling in and demanded Harry to make lunch. When Harry opened the pantry he saw a very comical sight; Draco was contorted into what looked to be a very painful position. They stared at each other for some seconds until Harry said 'bread', Draco handed him a loaf, the pantry was closed and Draco was let to take a breather.

_Why didn't he rat me out?_ Draco thought suspiciously, _Wait, what if he did? _He began to panic and pressed his ear to the door.

Soon after, while Harry was vacuuming the living room, Aunt Petunia returned home which abruptly ended Piers and Dudley's hunt for Draco. _He must have actually found a place that Dudley didn't know about, or more likely, a place he couldn't fit_, Harry thought mildly surprised at Draco's luck.

"Where's my little Dudley-wumply-kins?" Petunia shrilly called.

Dudley waddled down the stairs followed by Piers, both with down cast expressions as they hadn't been successful in catching their prey.

"Why are you so glum my precious baby?" Petunia asked as soon as she saw he son's upset face. Harry entered the room in order to put the vacuum away, and to see if anything interesting would happen when he was shouted at, "Did you burn or break anything Potter!? I swear if you—"

"What, no I—" Harry would have complained more but Dudley's pouting cut him off.

"Harry's friend won't play with us, he keeps avoiding us." Dudley expertly whined, even managing to conjure up teary eyes.

"BOY!" For the first time Petunia wasn't referring to Harry. "Get down here. NOW!"

Draco leapt like a frightened gazelle down the stairs, "Yes ma'am?" He cautiously questioned.

"Play with my boy or—" She was suddenly interrupted by Harry.

"He can't, he has to help me with re-roofing. Uncle Vernon _does_ want it done _before_ he gets home." Harry spared Draco because frankly, he had gotten bored. And for that matter, even if it was Draco it was too cruel to allow someone to get beat up by the likes of Dudley and Piers. And by the looks of it, Draco was on the verge of collapsing which was to be expected as he'd been running around and hiding for some four hours. _I'm surprised he's such a natural it took me a few years to perfect a technique of run-and-hide. I might as well give him a break._ Harry pondered to himself and missed Draco's look of disbelief.

"Very well, get on with it, quickly no, don't be dawdling." Petunia spoke curtly and waved off Dudley's on-coming tantrum by offering to 'free him and his friend from the horrid surroundings of the freak and the house-help' and get them ice cream. _How kind of her,_ Harry thought amused. As she left with the boys she warned, "If anything, _anything,_ is even a centimeter out of place you'll both be spending the rest of the summer locked in the cupboard with no food."

After Harry knew Petunia was gone he burst out laughing and proceeded to roll on the floor clutching his stomach.

"That's the second time in a day that you've laughed at me. It seems your making it a habit, how _kind _of you." Draco, disheartened, observed. "Where is this ominous cupboard she keeps speaking of?"

Harry stopped laughing long enough to sit up and catch his breath.

"First off, I've laughed at you far more times than just twice; it's just that you've only been in front of me twice." Harry grinned. "Secondly, it's right there." He said all the while pointing to a small nondescript door under the stairs.

Draco slowly walked over to the door not sure if Harry was just yanking his chain. He bent down and pulled the door open, "You're kidding, right?" He looked positively exasperated. "I mean, do _you_ even fit in here? And they expect us to share!?"

The look on Draco's face caused Harry to loss it again, and Draco had to wait a while before getting an answer. "Yep, just a small sacrifice to watch you get humiliated. Not claustrophobic, are you?" Harry stood up and practically skipped in glee over to Draco.

"Oh, that's low Potter, even for you." Draco glared at Harry in utter fury.

"Well, by the looks of it, you have nowhere else to go, seeing as if you did you would have gone there first. But if you really want to go . . . I can't stop you." Harry smartly replied making a path for Draco, if he so choose, to go out the door.

Draco, clearly defeated, slammed the door shut. "I swear, the next time I have a chance I'm gonna—"

Just then, Hedwig flew out of the fireplace followed by a tawny owl, each bearing a letter. They were addressed to each of them containing a welcome back letter and a school supply list.

As Harry removed the letters from the owls' legs he said, "If I were you I'd be a bit nicer."

"Why's that?" Draco gruffly asked.

"Simple, it's because if I hadn't of given you a place to stay you could be much worse off." With a tone that implied the conversation was over, Harry handed Draco his letter who offered no argument.

_I wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be, _Harry offhandedly thought.

"Whatever," Draco said in a much more civil voice with a hint of hurt, "How exactly am I going to get these?" Draco asked, "It's not like I have any money."

"You should have thought of that before you left without any money _and _before you yelled at me. I might have thought about paying for them for you, but now I don't think so." Harry smirked and walked to the door that would lead to the garage.

_Prick_, Draco thought, _why should I have expected help from the likes of him? All I've ever done is torment him and I haven't exactly given him a reason to play nice. Although, he is right that I have nowhere else to go, doesn't mean I have to stay in that blasted cupboard . . . or enjoy being here. Damn you Potter._

"You comin' Malfoy? I don't have all day and I wasn't kidding about re-roofing." Harry asked from the garage door.

"Yeah, yeah." Draco grumbled. _Oh gods. And I have to deal with this for four more weeks._

It had taken a fair amount of time, a few hours, for Draco to get a handle on the muggle tools they had to use. He held back his tongue for the most part and wasn't snapping at Harry, merely cussing to the air.

"Decided to behave, have we?" Harry asked innocent enough.

Draco just looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes. This was a bad idea because no sooner had he turned did he hammer his thumb, "Shit!" He quickly stuck his thumb in his mouth in futile attempt to rid himself of the incessant pain.

As this wasn't the first time, Harry grabbed a bag of ice from the cooler on the roof and threw it at Draco. "I wouldn't want you to loss a finger now."

* * *

The boys worked together in peace for a few minutes without anything happening. That was until Vernon pulled into the driveway. When he got out Harry noticed he looked agitated which made him nervous and he became absolutely still.

A sweaty, tired, dirty, bruised, and slightly bloody Draco turned to notice that Harry had stopped working, "What are you going to leave the rest to—"

Harry snapped his head towards Draco, and in a few short moments he had flattened Draco to the roof and covered his mouth with one of his hand, the other pressed against his chest so he couldn't move. Harry then mouthed, "Shhh."

Draco, not accustomed to close contact, namely being laid on, attempted to struggle and asked what he was doing but Harry shook his head and mouthed 'no'. After they heard the front door click shut he removed his hand from Draco's mouth, rolled over onto his back, and sighed.

"What the hell was that all about?" Draco asked out of breath and in no mood for vagueness, being dirty, tired, confused, and a little out of sorts with being laid on and all.

Harry propped his head up on his hand as he rolled onto his side to face Draco. "I just thought it'd be safer. Vernon looked like, if given a reason, he'd snap."

"Can't we finish tomorrow?" Draco resorted to complaining even though he hadn't exactly gotten a good answer.

Harry rolled his eyes, "We only have a bit more to do."

* * *

"Ha, done!" Draco proudly exclaimed.

"Well observed Sherlock." Harry stated, "We should get— Malfoy I wouldn't get to close to the edge—"

"Oh, I'm fine—" Without another word Draco lost his balance and seemed to fall backward off the roof in slow, slow motion.

"Malfoy!" Harry yelled as he jumped to grab at Draco.

_THUD!!!_

"Ouch!" Draco whimpered as he had hit his head on the gutter.

"Told you so." Harry grumbled to himself. "You all right?

"Yes, just peachy. Now how do you suppose I get down, or up?" Draco asked contritely.

Harry ignored Draco's attitude and asked, "Well, can you jump down easily? 'Cause I don't know if I can hold you much longer—"

"You callin' me fat Potter?"

"No, I—" Harry began to protest.

"What in blazes are you boys doing!?" Apparently Petunia had returned home without them noticing. Petunia had of course heard the great 'thud' and came out to investigate.

"We finished the roof." Harry meekly smiled.

"Ugh! If you Uncle wasn't having company— Both of you better wash up and disappear in fifteen minutes!" Petunia gruffly commanded, and slammed the door shut.

_So that's why he was agitated, _Harry thought distractedly.

"Hello, Potter, I'm still hanging here. Can you reach the ladder?"

"I'll try," Harry reached for it and was just able to grab one side, "Yeah, got it, hold on."

After a bit of a struggle both boys were clear of the roof, and had everything put away when—

"What took you two? The company will be here any moment and I will NOT be having you screw it up again. No time to wash-up. Get out of sight NOW!" Petunia ordered with no room for questions.

Harry put his hands up in surrender and backed around his deranged aunt, with Draco close behind. She stared at them until they were in front of the cupboard door then she spun around and was gone.

"I really don't see how we're going to fit—" Draco protested.

"Just get in the damn cupboard Malfoy." Harry sighed. "I don't want to smell your dirty ass anymore than you want to smell mine but it's that or get shredded to pieces by my aunt. Your choice"

* * *

**I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter it's longer than the last by a bit.**

**Thank you for all those who read and review **

**Preview: Magical windows and contorting, the ultimate test of seeker flexibility!**


	3. Chapter 3: Breakouts and Crashes

**Chapter 3: Breakouts and Crashes**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own characters blah, blah, blah**

**Thank you all who review and read :) **

**Of course, I must, once again, thank my wonderful beta Ibrium! All hail God of the Day.**

* * *

**Last Chapter: **"I really don't see how we're going to fit-- " Draco protested. 

"Just get in the damn cupboard Malfoy." Harry sighed. "I don't want to smell your dirty ass anymore than you want to small mine but it's that or get shredded to pieces by my aunt. Your choice."

* * *

"Potter, I swear, if you do—" Draco began but was interrupted by the door bell announcing the arrival of Mr. Dursely's guests. 

They looked at each other, startled, and said in unison, "Crap." They both lunged for the handle but they were too late.

Petunia came bustling out of the dining room to answer the door. When she saw that the two boys weren't in the cupboard she swooped down upon them like death itself and nearly blew a vein out. Without saying a word, she swiftly reached them and forcefully shoved them into the way-too-small cupboard, slammed the door stealthy so as not to make a sound, and locked it tight. Both boys bit their tongues hard to keep their cries of pain from leaving their mouths, fearful of what Vernon or Petunia would do to them if they made so much as a peep.

From outside their prison they could hear Petunia greeting a married couple with faked sincerity, and Dudley offering to take their coats. They sat unmoving and tangled in a knot, still stifling their pain. Once all the occupants of the hallway had made their way to the living room, or wherever they went to have tea and crumpets, they felt it was safe to move.

They imediately sighed and relaxed, kind of; after all they were still tangled together.

"Damn, when your aunt was stalking towards us I thought we were as good as dead." Draco sighed and attempted to relax but found Harry's knee digging into the small of his back. He wiggled uncomfortably."Why didn't she let us stay in that extra room with all the toys? It's not like it's being used, is it?" He tried again to shift but to no avail, it seemed to him that he was surrounded, _Damn small places, wide open spaces, wide open spaces . . . _

Harry could feel Draco's back muscles twitching nervously.

"Well, aren't you talkative for someone who was just complaining about being crammed in a cupboard with their worst foe." Harry quipped. Before Draco could respond with anything more than a frown Harry answered his question, "She probably didn't let us stay there because— you think you could move your foot? Yeah— anyways, because of what happened the last time they tried locking me up when they had company." Harry's eyes semi-glazed over as he remembered the summer before his second year. Caught in thought, he didn't notice he was moving.

"WOHW!" Draco shrieked.

"Shhh!" Harry panicked and, for the second time that day, placed his hand over Draco's mouth before he could be heard, hopefully. They sat like that for a moment with perked ears, listening intently to the rest of the house. When Harry could tell that they had not been heard he asked in a harsh whisper, wearing a glare, "What now."

"Don't look at me like that." Draco stated defensively.

"How can you even see my face? It's pitch black in here." Harry asked confused and sat back.

"Well, you were only like two inches from my face." Draco belted and was immediately shushed by Harry. He continued in much quieter voice, "I just put my back against a cold surface. Wait, is this a window? How do you have a window in here?" Draco spoke faster and faster and higher and higher.

"Are you alright? You seem nervous, high-strung." Harry was beginning to feel very awkward. "You're asking a lot of questions."

"Yeah," Draco squeaked, and then cleared his voice, "I'm fine. Hey, is there a light in here. Maybe we'll be able to get in a more comfortable position." He began to fidget and semi-flail.

"For Merlin's sake, calm down, stop moving. Thank you. Now first, yes, there is a light. Second, your claustrophobic aren't you?" Harry might have enjoyed this revelation if it weren't for their being in a situation which called for them to be quiet. Although, he did have to admit Draco had a good idea; it hadn't even been five minutes and he was starting to cramp. This could be due to the fact that Draco's foot was imbedding itself into his thigh, which in turn tensed his legs and lower back muscles. Harry worked quickly to find the light chain so that said foot wouldn't venture any closer to an area much more sensitive. In his quest he managed to hit Draco square on the nose before finding and pulling the cord.

The small area was flooded with dull light emitted by the dying bulb. They soon found that there was actually enough room for two people but the way Petunia had forced them in had prevented their bodies from falling into the space evenly.

"Space, wonderful space." Draco exclaimed delighted in a subdued tone. Spotting a dingy, sorry excuse for a mattress that acted as Harry's bed, he flopped down, kicking Harry's face in the process, and began to fall asleep, or at least tried to fall asleep.

"I don't think so, Malfoy!" Harry said with a scandalized voice. "This is _my_ room— cupboard--and therefore _my_ bed, so if you'll scoot over—" Harry explained as if he were speaking at a two-year-old.

"No." Draco stated matter-of-factly. "I had to sleep on a bench, and I had to do strenuous muggle work. I deserve—"

"Deserve?" Harry nearly yelled, incredulously. "I do 'strenuous muggle work' every day!"

"Exactly, you're used to it by now." Draco argued.

"Harry rolled his eyes, "Whatever, just give me a pillow, and curl up more; you're hogging every inch of the bed."

"Why?" Draco asked sleepily.

"So that I can get some kind of a comfortable sleeping position sitting crisscross and leaning against the cold, damp window." Harry thought he might get Draco to sympathize, which was a miscalculation to say the least because all Draco did was throw a pillow at him and--ever so slightly--curl up.

_What the hell? Why did I let him win? _Harry didn't even understand his actions anymore, _first I let him stay (well, that was to humiliate him, the back of his mind defended.), then I save his life (it would have looked bad if you killed a pitiful school rival, the same voice stated), and _now_ we're sleeping in my cupboard (got me there kid). Together! _He decided it would be detrimental to his mental health if he tried to think about it any further. Sleep edged into his vision, so he took he glasses off, placed them on the window sill, and turned off the light. Sleep had almost fully consumed his mind when he could have sworn he heard Draco whisper 'thank you', _I'll . . . just . . . ask him . . . tomorrow . . ._

With that final thought, both boys had fallen into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

* * *

Harry was woken at the crack of dawn by a loud crashing noise above him; most likely Dudley. _Why the bloody hell is— _His thought was prematurely ended when Draco so calmly awake. It looked to Harry as if was seizing, he was kicked several times as Draco attempted to sit up, until he finally hit his head on the low ceiling and collapsed on the bed holding his nose and whimpering. 

"Well, don't you wake up ever so gracefully?" Harry growled, he not only was stiff and sore from sleeping weird he now had bruises thanks to Draco. "So clean-shaven, combed hair, nice clothes." Harry taunted the half-asleep Slytherin.

"Nehugh," Draco grunted, not in the least caring, "Damn, my nose is bleeding." Blood was pouring out of Draco's nose down his front and also onto Harry's mattress.

"Could you at least bleed somewhere other than my bed?" Draco attepted a half ass remark but was cut off by Harry. "I'll go—" Harry stopped mid-sentence as his hand meet the door; it was locked. "What the— why is this still locked?

Outside they could hear Dudley and his faithful cohort chortling away in stupid satisfaction. _What now! _Harry thought with frustration edging his inner voice.

"Ha, ha, you have to be stuck in that cupboard _all day_." Dudley goaded in a superior tone.

"What are you talking about Dudley?" Harry said it slow, fearing what Dudley said is true, "If I'm locked up, who do you think will cook for you?" Harry smartly replied, or so he thought.

"Doesn't matter." Came Dudley's smug voice, "Daddy's associates were _so_ impressed with us that they invited us to spend a day at their villa. Mum says to keep you from destroying anything you and your friend have to stay cooped up."

Harry slowly put his head against the door in disbelief and proceeded to bang his head to make a rhythmic thumping.

"Stop that thumping, boy." Uncle Vernon shouted from the top of the stair case. "Dudders, come help me with your luggage now, your mother will be ready to leave soon."

Harry sat back utterly defeated. _Could it get any worse?_ He was thrown out of thought by his uncle's menacing voice.

"Don't try _anything_, don't try to get out, nothing, you hear me?"

"Yes." They answered in droning unison.

"If I find that anything has been disrupted . . . " Vernon left the threat hanging in the air.

Vernon left again but Dudley and Piers came back, laughing and making jokes until Petunia called for them to leave.

"Oh, and not that this matters to _you two_, but we'll be back around eight-thirty, no later than nine-ish." Petunia informed them right before the front door clicked shut. At this moment Harry slowly turned his head to face Draco, who was now sporting a look of sheer horror and disbelief. Harry resorted to just rolling his eyes.

"What!? I can't stay trapped in here all day! Not with _you_ smelling and . . . and . . ." It appeared as if Draco was beginning to hyperventilate. _Wide open spaces, wide open spaces . . . _

"Hey, you don't smell any better." Harry said afronted. "Besides that . . . wait, you _are _claustorphobic _aren't _you!?" He'd finally sad it, Draco's only response was a slight blush.

_Heh heh, this could be fun, _Harry grinned to himself, _He doesn't know that I can pick locks. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to open the window . . . _

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Draco asked shiftily.

"What are you talking about?" Harry nonchalantly quirred.

"You know what I mean, you're planning something." Draco narrowed his eyes. "Don't bother hiding it, you suck at hiding your thoughts; I can read you like a book."

_Damn, I really need to work on my facial expressions, _Harry cursed himself, _maybe I can get Draco to teach me, he is good at it, after all . . . _

Apparently Harry had a very mischievious look spread across his face because Draco got real nervous-like and threw a pillow to catch his attention. "Stop plotting my demise, Potter, I would undoubtedly out-wit you." He hmphed and looked away all superior-like.

"Out-wit this." Harry exclaimed as he hit Draco square in the nose with his pillow.

"Ouch! My nose may have stopped bleeding but it's still sore." Draco pouted. "Stupid low ceilling. Harry was too busy laughing to pay attention to Draco's words, and movements, subsequently he didn't see the pillow flying back at his face. When the pillow fell from Harry's face Draco knew he would soon regret having thrown it at him. Harry had a look of murderous glee plastered on his face. And there began a furious pillow fight, and, by the end of it, each boy was out of breath and laughing crumpled on the floor.

Harry victoriously sat up, "I do believe that I've won."

"You most certainly have not!" Draco argued. "Wait, you're distracting me, get us out of here, I'm in need of a good, long bath."

"Fine, fine, fine. I guess there's no reason to punish myself anymore with the presence of someone who can't even carry on a good pillow fight." Harry stated with an air of ownership of the situation. "I suppose I could try to pick the lock now. I've only done it once before, . . . way back in the summer before third year . . . "

"And you didn't feel like metioning this before!" Draco aske hastily, "Do it now."

"Okay already, geez, don't bite my ass off." Harry said in mock defense. "Help me find a pin or something small and long to use."

They carefully manuvered around the cramped quarters looking for an object that fit said discription, only occassionally bumping into each other followed by much shoving and cursing.

"Ahhh, damn, Potter! That's the third time you've stepped on my toe!" Draco cried in pain, hopping (well, as much as one can hop in a cupboard) and holding his big toe.

Harry just rolled his eyes and kept searching. It was only a matter of seconds before Draco spoke again.

"Merlin's sake. Do you ever clean in here!?" Draco yelled and sat on the bed defeated.

"Pardon me for not having cleanliness as my number one priority." Harry dryly responded. Draco huffed and looked away.

After five minutes of futile searching and coming up empty ahnded, Harry sat down, looked at Draco, and smiled stupidly. He stared until Draco turned his head to face him.

"What?"

"Nothin' much, I was just wondering why you haven't opened the window and climbed out yet." Draco's look of surprise made Harry crack up.

"And you failed to mantion this earlier because!?" Draco asked exasperated.

Harry shrugged, "Thought it'd be funny."

"Funny my ass, Potter. Now move." Draco shoed Harry to the floor.

"No need to get rough, Malfoy." Harry said in mock hurt.

Draco made a reach for the window lock but Harry stopped him, "No need to rush, it's not like we will be able to get into any other part of the house. In other words, it's not like you can go take a bath."

Harry undid te latch, opened the window agonizingly slow, wiggled the screen out and placed it against the outside of the house. He then began to crawl out of the window at a snail-like pace. Draco, having become impatient, kicked Harry the rest of the way out, then existed quickly, nearly tripping over Harry in the process.

"In a hurry much?" Harry laughed.

Draco just scoffed and stalked off. Harry, after replacing the screen, jogged to catch up, Draco was now at the sidewalk trying to decide which way to go.

"Where do you think you're going?" Harry strategically questioned.

"That way." Draco pinted to the right and began to walk briskly in said direction. _Well, it's not like he'll let me wander off to the middle of nowhere, I mean, he is following me and he wouldn't intetionally get himself lost . . . _Draco assured himself.

They walked side by side wth no words exchanged, just a tuneless him from Harry. This went on for about a half hour until his humming was interrupted by Draco's grumbling stomach. Harry laughed as Draco glared at him.

"How does one aquire food in the muggle system?" Draco asked haughtily.

"Not exactly sure . . . they pay with money, sometimes with plastic cards. Beyond that I wouldn't know, the Dursley's have never taken me anywere, well, beside the zoo . . ." Harry said reminiscently and started to drift away in thought.

"They never took you anywhere!?" Draco asked flabberghasted, "You're the bloody Boy-Who-Lived!"

"Funny thing is, they hate anything magical. That's y they call me a freak, work me like a mule, and torment or ignore me." Harry stated severly.

Draco was put ff by Harry's bluntness. _Does that mean he was actually protecting me when he said I was normal . . . _He risked a glance at Harry and saw that he was on the verge of brooding, _why?_ He was so deep in thought that, as he crassed the street, he never saw the car coming. Time simply ceased to exist in a logical sense in Harry's eyes. He saw Draco's horrified expression as he turned his head too late, Harry's rational had quite functioning and, without thought, he flat out ran with an outstreached arm toward Draco.

SCREECH!!!

He managed to just shove Draco, mostly, out of the car's path when it collied with him, and as it turned, the back end of the metal bumper clipped Draco's calf, eliciting a blood curtling scream of pain from him. The driver lost control of the car and wrapped it aroung a lamppost. Draco painfully sat up and was met with a grusome sight; gasoline had begun to leak from the car and it was slowly surrounding Harry, it appeared that the grill of the car ad hit his wrist and nearly severed it, as it was bleeding profusly, not that the rest of Harry wasn't bleeding. He was just lying there unmoving, except for a twitch here and there.

Draco was almost overcome with pain; most all coherent thought had fled from his minds reach. _Oh Gods, Harry be all right, stupid fool, why did he try to save me!? _He began to drag himself toward Harry's side, who had begun to seize. Draco nearly lost it, probably from shock (or posible something else), he almost burst into tears but his lungs were constricted with fear, _Shit, I need to get him (his wounds mostly) away from this shinny stuff, it doesn't look safe, or smell good . . . _

After agonizing minute he finally reached Harry, he held the boys battered right hand. _Oh Gods, it's still warm. _Just then Harry's eyes fluttered open,

"Draco? Is that you? It's so dark. Why are you crying? It'll be alright . . . Madame Pomf . . . " was all he could mutter before passing out once more.

Draco then notice that he was indeed crying, but now he was crying because Harry had actually called him by his first name. _Heh,_ Draco laughed maniacly to himself,_ great, now he's hallucinating. _He strategically moved his arm under those of the unconcsious oy. He cursed in pain and almost collapsed when he heard the unwanted sound of a flame being born.

* * *

**Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, heh heh, and that it's not that long, well, compared to the other two.**

**Hope you all enjoy it, please leave comments/reviews.**


	4. Chapter4:Confrontations and Consequences

**Chapter 4: Confrontations and Consequences**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own the characters, and such.**

**Thank you all for the reviews and encouragement, I might slow down after this chapter (in updating) because I have lots of homework, or I could just be exaggerating things, anyways enjoy XD. And don't forget that the wonderful grammar, coherence, and matching verb tenses is thanks to my beta, Ibrium.**

* * *

_Ugh,_ Harry thought disoriented, _my eyes feel so heavy. Damn, how fast was that car going? _Harry tried to move, but none of his limbs would respond or even budge an inch. He slipped back into unconsiousness. He was in the blackness again, just like that dream; there wasn't any light, no floor, no feeling. He could sense the vibrations in the air change, felt something brush his hand, the scene in front of him fluttered and blurred. Light flooded his vision but all he could see was shinning black, his hand in a mutulated state, and Draco holding it with tears in his eyes. 

"Draco? Is that you? It's so dark. Why are you crying? It'll be alright . . . Madame Pomf . . . " Was all Harry found he was able to say before he slipped out of consciousness.

Draco realize that he was indeed crying. No time for that, that thing is going to explode any moment now. He once more began to struggling to move Harry to no avail. _What the hell? Stupid, stupid, Draco. Why didn't I think of this sooner? _Draco mentally scolded himself, i_f this isn't an emergency, then I don't know what is_. At this Draco whipped out his wand._ Heh, well, I'm crap at healing spell, I guess I'll just have to levitate him_.

He worked quickly, or rather, as quickly as possible seeing as his leg was damaged and bleeding, and they were no sooner on the sidewalk when the car finally exploded violently. Fearing shrapnel would further damage the already near-death Potter, he acted as a human shield. Draco whimpered as shards of glass and hot metal burned and imbedded themselves in his back.

Draco laid down painfully beside Harry and, before he too lost all conscious awarness, he saw flashing red lights and heard a siren.

* * *

Hours, or even days, later Draco opened his eyes. He immediately regretted doing so as all he saw was white, blinding white. _It'd be so pathetic if I was dead, _Draco thought sourly, _I can see the Daily Prophet now 'Boy Who Lived killed in failed attempt to save the son of You-Know-who's right and man!' Well, it probably won't be that long but . . . _He was spurred out of contemplation by a voice. 

"Are you alright? You have a severe leg wound and have lost quite a lot of blood." A women wearing more white said softly.

At that, Draco sat up fast, too fast. He moaned and held his head but had no time to care; he had something important to ask.

"Is . . . is the boy I was with okay?" Draco spoke fast and clipped as he was forcing the pain to subside, or rather, he was trying to ignore it.

"Oh my, lie back down, you are in no shape to be talking just yet. You shouldn't be moving around either." The women pushed him back down gently but with a sense of urgency, which made Draco panic slightly. "Save your questions, I'll just go and get the doctor now, be right back."

He just sat there, unmoving, taking in his surroundings. He was in a small room, there were beeping things all around, white curtains, white bedding, white floors, glass doors, _thank Merlin, I couldn't deal with anymore white, _Draco thought, momentarily distracted. When he completed his intial survey of the room, he noticed that someone else shared his room, but was blocked frow view by curtains.

_Oh crap,_ was all he thougth before he slowly stood up and walked toward them with a slight limp.

Draco drew them back deathly slow and quiet. For the first time in his life he was glad that Harry was breathing. Without even batting an eye, he sat by Harry's feet on the right side (Harry's right) of the bed. He solemly stared at Harry's right hand which had been heavily bandaged. As he reached out to touch it the door to the room slide open making a soft, yet eerie, whish of the wind, like a drifting soul.

"So, you've found your friend." The doctor said stifly and glared at the nurse, "Don't worry he will be fine, he should wake up soon. More importantly thought," He seemed to indicate importance by clapping his hands gayly (happily) together, "I need to know if there's anyone we can contact."

"No." Draco responded dryly, thinking how his parents would _definately _not be available, he did run away, after all. He also thought that the Dursley's would kill Harry themselves if they were disturbed during their trip to a villa. "I . . . I'm . . . we don't have famlies, sir."

This brought an unhidden expression of disgust, "Well then, once he awakes, you will both get one more check-over and sent on your way. Good-day." The doctor put on a fake smile, he was obviously not interested in moneyless folk, and left with the nurse shuffling after him and abruptly slid the door shut.

_Wretched muggles, _Draco began but was distracted by movement. When he looked down he saw that Harry's hand had shifted to lie over his. _Don't die._

* * *

For hours Draco sat by Harry, only getting up to quench his thirst or to go to the bathroom. He was once more sitting on the bed, bouncing his legs impatiently, he looked at the clock, _6:57 p.m.,_ He was staring out the window, still grasping Harry's hand, as he'd become accostumed to over the seemingly endless hours, when it happened; Harry opened his eyes. 

"Uhg, where am I?" Harry muttered more to himeself than anyone else. He tried to lift his hand but it was stopped by an unknown force. "What the?" Harry lifted his head to meet wide silver eyes, blurrily, of course, after all he didn't have his glasses on. This also prevented him from seeing the happiness in Draco's face, which was quickly masked with a subdued expression of expectancy.

Draco hastily removed his hand and retrieved Harry's glasses, which were, amazingly, only bent in a few places. Harry was the first to speak.

"You're not too badly hurt Malfoy, right?" His voice was a bit shaky and Draco couldn't tell whether it was because he felt awkward or if it was just an effect of his injuries.

Their eyes meet briefly, yet too long, before he turned away Draco thought he might have seen something like guilt in the other boy's eyes_. That would be just like him to put all the blame on himself, _he thought bitterly.

"Of course." Draco said obtusely, then seeing Harry's head drop he quickly added, in a much more comforting and grateful tone, "Thanks to your help, of course. I should have been paying more attention." He thought about going as far as saying it was his fault but that would be to far_, After all, it _wasn't_ my fault it was that stupid driver's fault_.

Ater a moments pause Draco asked before he could stop himself, but slow enough to mask the question in an air of indifference.

"And you'll live another day, eh Potter?"

Harry grinned and laughed, but not for long. He held his ribs, "Heh, bruised, it must be Ragnarok, it sounded like you were actually concerned for a moment."

"Hmph. Well, who _would _I torment if you were dead?" Draco asked a bit too fast in defense.

"There are my friends, or are they not good enough for you, you _need_ me that much?" Harry asked with a smirk, trying not to laugh. "I suppose your just trying to get hurt for my attention."

Draco looked appaled, in a funny, shocked kind of way, and was just about to throw something at his taunting foe.

"Hey, no hurting the cripples." Draco scowled. Harry smiled in victory. "What exactly happened after the car hit me?"

"Well, it hit a lamppost, then black stuff leaked out of the car which started to surround you, and . . ." Draco considered mentioning him holding his hand and about Harry calling him by his first name but decided against the idea. "Then I levitated you to the sidewalk, the car burst into flames . . . oh, and before I passed out I saw red flashing lights."

"Oh . . . Wait, you used magic, then why didn't you heal me?" Harry asked without anger or blame, just curiousity.

"I'm not that good at them, never had much of a use for them." Draco stated plainly.

Harry let it drop and racked his brain for that memory just after the crash, _I guess that other part really was just a dream. Strange that I would choose then of all times to have a reaccuring dream, although . . . _

"Well, no point in staying here any longer." Harry gingerly stood up and began searching for his clothes. "Damn, I suppose they would throw my clothes away . ." _Good thing I wasn't carrying my wand with me._

"What are you doing?" Draco asked increduously.

Harry halted his search and matched Draco's questioning eyes, "Getting out of here." He explained slowly, "As I see it, if we don't get back by 8:30 it won't matter if we survived that accident."

Draco was put-off tat Harry spoke of death so lightly, _Although, I guess it's nothing new to him, _Draco somberly thought.

Harry gave up and opted to steal a lab coat. "Aren't you going to get dressed? You're stuff is probably in that closet."

"Right, then." Draco checked, and sure enough they were hanging there. When he was done dressing he saw Harry peering into the hallway.

"Don't worry, no one'll be checking on us. They think we have no one to pick up, or rather, pay for us. The muggle wasn't very good at hiding the fact that he didn't care whether you woke up or not." Draco sounded very ruffled by the end of his mini-rant.

_Well, I'll be sure not to have him get _personally _peeved with me. He sounds so, so, _patronizing, _It almost sounds like he cares, why would Malfoy, of all people, be patronizing, caring . . . _He mentally slapped himself, _I must have been hit on the head harder than I thought, it's just my imagination._

"Okay then let's go." Harry said distantly.

They left completely unnoticed, not a single person even turned their head in the boy's general direction; they were invisible to these people. Not that this was a new concept to Harry, he was used to such an attitude. Draco on the other hand found it eerie and disturbing and, strictly speaking, rude to such a pureblood like him, but of course that doesn't count for anything in the muggle realm.

Feeling slightly awkward, Draco asked, "Are you going to be able to walk all the way back?"

"Why would I do that? We'll just summon the Knight Bus, well, actuall you will, seeing as I don't exactly have my wand with me at the moment." Harry proposed.

_What kind of wizard doesn't carry their wand!?_ Draco asked himself. He quickly looked around to make sure no one was around to abserve, pulled out his wan and said '_lumos'_.

In a mere few seconds the Knight Bus had arrived and Stan was at the door.

"Where to-- hey look, it's Neville and that boy from a few days ago. Where to Neville-- "

"It's Harry."

"Okay Neville, back to Diagon Alley?"

"No, just Number Four Privet Drive, please." Harry stated as calmly as he and Draco boarded. Draco looked at him confused and Harry flattened his bangs over his forehead absentmindedly.

After a considerable time full of awkward glances, Draco finally spoke in almost a whisper, "Why did you save me?" It was almost a statement, he said it so toneless and factually.

"Hmm," Harry thought for a moment, "Instinct, I guess." He checked his watch, completely unphased by the inquiry. "Damn, it's 8:10."

Draco was about to burst into a rant when Stan announced that they arrived at their destination. They said their thanks and just made it off the triple-decker-bus whn it disappeared into the night with only a crack.

"Let's hurry, they could be home any minute." They walked past the front door, never noticing the letter resting on the door mat.

Draco was still frustrated with Harry's disregardance of the accidnt and his subsequent near death. The same thought runnig through his head unceasingly, _Why did he save me? Why would he risk his own life? He needs to save the whole damn world and he tries to save me. Why?_

Harry knelt in the soft grass and popped the screen out, set in against the house, and stepped gingerly back into confinement, Draco followed suit wordlessly. Harry turned on the light, replaced the screen, half-streatched and yawned.

"I suppose you want the bed agian." Harry blankly stated.

"No, that's alright, I probably won't get much sleep tonight." Draco muttered.

Harry shrugged and sat down. For the first time since his birthday he remembered the cake Mrs. Weasley had sent him. "Care for some cake Malfoy."

"Huh? Oh, sure." Draco was still barely registering much due to his absorbing thoughts.

They just sat there, eating cake, Draco mulling over his thoughts some more, leaving Harry staring out the window mindlessly. Even when they finished eating they just sat there, moitionless and silent. Until Harry slowly rose from his spot and shuffled over to a basket where he pulled out some hand-me-down clothes. With his back turned to Draco, he slowly stripped his hospital clothes. Draco noticed many bruises until he realized he shouldn't be staring and quickly looked away before he could see anymore then his back. Once he was dressed he laid on the bed, turned off the light, and said 'good-night'. Draco gawked at him through the darkness and viciously stood up, nearly hitting his head, and pulled the light to illuminate the room with light again.

"How can you just sleep like that!? You nearly _died _saving me! I'm your enemy, foe, arche-rival, whatever you want to call me. You've now saved my life three times. THREE TIMES. Not to mention protectiong me from your relatives by telling them I'm a muggle. For Merlin's sake WHY!?" Draco's tyraid wasn't close to being done and he wasn't about to let Harry interrupt him.

"Why do you have to carry all the damn responsibility and blame? You could've just let me die and it would have been my own damn fault! My own damn fault for not paying attention. Not yours. Damn, even when you were lying on the ground in a pool of your own blood you said 'It'll be alright" how can you possibly know that Harry!?"

"I-- " Harry tried.

"And why did you have to call me 'Draco'!?" Draco breathlessly finished and collapsed exhausted on the bed. He wouldn't meet Harry's eyes; they were shinning with unsaid, unnoticed tears of confusion and loss of reality.

Harry was taken aback, purely shocked at first but that soon turned to a look of guilt. He lifted his head to speak.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, don't look guilty."Draco sounded as if he was pleading.

Harry opened his mouth but all that happened was that the front door crashed open, startling the boys out of there heavy conversation.

"WHAT IS THIS!!!" Vernon seethed, as he stomped into the house. "Petunia get those boys in the living room, NOW! Dudley, Piers go upstairs, don't test me, GO."

Petunia fumbled with the key and struggled to unlock the cupboard door quickly. She hastily swung open the door and ran for safety upstairs. Harry looked at Draco confused and Draco looked back in terror.

They clambered out of their hole in the wall and made their way swiftly to the living room.

"Care to explain _this_?" Vernon asked, throwing downa piece of parchement at Harry's feet.

_Mr. D. Malfoy _

_The Cupboard under the Stairs, _

_4 Privet Drive, _

_Little Whinging, _

_Surrey _

"Open it!" Vernon demanded.

Harry read:

_Ministry of Magic: Department of Underage Magic_

_Dear Mr. D. Malfoy,_

_We write to inform you that we are aware of your use of a levitating charm. We also recognize that you did so under a life and death situation, therefore, it will not count against you but it will still be recorded. We commend you on your ability to discern when it is appropriate to use magic underage and when not too. We are also happy to say that there weren't any witness, so your execution of said spell was inconspicuos, as hoped for in these types of situations however unlikely._

There was more but Harry sensed that was all he had been wanted to read.

He looked up and saw that Draco was so pale he appeared as if he had died standing up, he had simply stopped breathing. Vernon was so furious his face was nearly black, Harry had become pale and was sure he was going to get whatever Vernon's _'or else'_ really ment. The tension hovered uncut, each occupant staring at another, Draco resorted to glacing back and forth between uncle and nephew.

"I want you two out of my sight and house in _two minutes._" Vernon barked.

"You can't do that! Dumbledore-- " Harry stated to protest.

"I don't care about that old geezer. GET OUT!" Vernon shouted with finality.

They struggled to move fast as they could, they were both still hurting from their injuries. They threw everything in Harry's trunk and rushed to drag in out of the house, which proved extremely difficult, they were slowed by the pain shooting through their sore limbs. Harry clutched his ribs intermittenly, while practically being chased out of the house by Vernon's presence bearing down on them. Not a moment after they had vacated the house did the door slam shut with Vernon shouting his last words.

"I NEVER want to see either of your freak faces _again!_"

"You think the Knight Bus will get annoyedwith repeated users?" Hary asked lightly.

Draco glance at him in disbelief but only said _'lumos'_ and the Knight Bus appeared to them with a crack for the second time that day.

Stan helped them load Harry's trunk and get settled in a bed.

"Your hot chocolate will be out soon." Stan said before going back to the lower levels.

Harry and Draco, having momentarily forgotten about Draco's rant, promptly fell asleep. They hadn't specified a destination but Stan returned wth their hot chocolate to find them asleep and decided to leave them that way. At least for a while.

* * *

The night wore on slowly but the coming dawn was making itself apparent. Stan came to check if they had awakened to find a much more serious scene; there was blood seeping out of Harry's bandages. Stan ran down to the driver and hastily told him to go to St. Mungo's hospital. He then returned to Harry and shook him awake. 

"Wha', what's going on?" Harry asked with a yawn.

"Your bleedin' laddy." Stan replied, completely devoid of color, obviously not be used to the sight of blood.

"Oh." Harry calmy observed, "I guess I should get it fixed, then."

Draco had woken up from the commotion. "Merlin! You're bleeding everywhere, Harry!"

"I've noticed . . ." Harry was unsure what to call this seemingly different boy. _That's the second time he's called me 'Harry', and he's not like the old Malfoy, . . . what the hell am I suppose to call him? He almost sounds . . . concerned . . ._ What was Harry supppose to think, Draco was acting way out of character, _What have I gotten myself into? _Harry was saved the trouble of thinking any further, by their arrival at St. Mungo's.

"We'll wait until they're done fixin' you up." Stan offered as they temporarily left the Knight Bus.

Draco had noticed Harry's hesitation and the lack of referring to him by a name. This observation, for some reason or other, bothered Draco, no matter how much he tried to deny it to himself. _Of course he wouldn't call me 'Draco', after all, the only reason he said that before was because he was dellusional. Then why are you calling him 'Harry'?_ The back of his mnd challenged. _Shut up._

As soon as they entered the reception area the receptionist took their names, only looking up when she realized that Harry was Harry_ Potter_ and that he was with a Malfoy. Other than the brief look surprise, she just told them to wait, as their injuries weren't life threatening, yet.

Draco uncomfortable with the silence that kept infecting them, but not willing to bring up his rant just yet, tried his hand at small talk.

"So, you keep alluding to previous experiences just before returning to Hogwarts whenever we talk." Draco said in a tone that implied Harry should elaborate.

Harry had a look of 'Are you serious?', which made Draco feel embarassed.

"You really want to know?" Harry asked unsure. Draco nodded in the affirmative.

"Uh, well." Harry was at a loss for words, he hadn't expected a question like that, he thought Draco would have pursued his rant from earlier and demand answers. "Before I knew I was a wizard and spoke parseltongue, the Dursley's took me to a zoo-- a place with a lot of different normal animals-- only because the old woman who they usually left me with broke her hip so the had to take me. Amazingly, not even Dudley could fake cry to get Petunia to come up with a different plan.

"So, while we were there, there was a snake that was just lying there, bored and all, and I accidentally started talking to it without knowing, which made it move, drawing my cousins attention, and then I accidentally made the glass disappear and Dudley and Piers fell in the display and the snake escaped. That was the last time they _ever_ took me out, except for taking me to the train and all."

Draco stared at him amazed.

"There's no need to stare at me like that. It was just an accident. Lots of wizards do wandless magic on accident. Right?"

"Well yeah, but it's still cool."

Harry forgot his uneasy tone and happily recounted his other adventures, although he avoided the topic of Voldemort, his scar, and anything to do with his happenings at school. Draco sat attentively nodding his head, asking an occassional question, or saying an encouraging 'ah'. Soon enough a mediwtich came to clean them up and they left pain-free and scar-free, almost, Draco still had a slightly raised and paler strip tracing his skin.

Back on the Knight Bus they drank their hot chocolate in the best mood either had been all summer, which couldn't last long, so Stan burst in and asked them,

"So, you laddy's never mentioned a destination. What'll it be?"

"Uh, we'll get back to you." Hary said with a tinge of panic.

"Where are we suppose to go? It's not like I have anywhere to stay." Draco so nicely pointed out.

"We could go to Ron's house . . . " Harry weakly proposed.

* * *

**  
Hope you enjoy longer than the last one. XD **

Review, Review, Review

I think I might have made them _too_ friendly, maybe I'll add more discord between the two . . .


	5. Chapter 5: A Question of Civility

**Chapter 5: A Question of Civility **

**Chapter Notes: You'll be amazed but it has only been three days, well this is the third. Therefore, it's August 2 throughout this chapter, and probably the next (time passes very detailed and slow, heh heh). **

**Author Notes: Yay for all the reviews! They make me very happy and encourage me to write faster. XD Also much thanks still to Ibrium, although she's been slacking so if there were errors in the last chapter that's why.**

**Also, I'm not sure how to make Ginny, obsessive and sabotaging or kind and accepting. Ah, the dilemmas. Feedback please on what you think of either idea.**

* * *

"We could go to Ron's house . . ." Harry weakly proposed. 

Draco burst out with laughter, "You're kiding, right? Weasley would _never _let me stay."

When Harry didn't say anything in response Draco sobered up right quick.

"Harry, tell me you're joking." Draco insisted, but Harry wouldn't meet his eyes and kept twiddling his thumbs.

"Well, you said yourself that you don't have anywhere else to go and that's the only place I can go. I doubt Dumbledore would let us stay at Hogwarts. Even if he did, we have no way of getting there . . . Well, actually we do, but that's beside the point." Harry explained neatly. "So we're going to the Burrow. Stan."

Stan appeared shortly after being called, "Yes?"

"We'll be going to the Burrow, please." Harry requested.

"Sure thing laddies." At that Stan was off down the stairs.

Draco stood staring at Harry in shock.

"Oh, come off it, Draco. I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Weasley will be fine with it . . . " Harry drifted off a bit. "Well, maybe not Ron . . . or Ginny . . . neither will Percy . . . Fred and George will probably find it humorous and prank you . . . " He was digging his own grave.

"See what I mean! They'll never let me stay." Draco practically yelled. "They'll hex me faster than you can say 'lumos'."

"Calm down. You're overreacting . . . kind of. Look, I'll just explain why you are with me-- wait, why _did_ you end up with me?" Harry began an interrogation Draco knew would either be riduculously short or painfully long, but either way it wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Of course you know," Draco started shakily. "I needed somewhere to stay." He knew it was a half-ass answer and therefore wouldn't satisfy Harry's curiousity. _Damn Harry's curiousity. _

"Yes, but _why _couldn't you stay at home?" Harry pushed, now thoroughly interested. "I need to know, after all, I _am_ helping you."

Draco couldn't stand his vulnerability and rapidly became very defensive. "Look, it's none of your business."

"It very much is. I'm not looking for trouble and, what with you being you an all, I could very well call trouble upon myself." Harry was getting annoyed, _I knew he hadn't changed, just the same self-righteous, defensive prick. _

Draco stood up, now full of anger. "I didn't ask for your help, you were just a convienence, Potter."

"Oh, a convienence, that's what I am? I save your life to be convenient? Shit, I knew you were the same Malfoy as ever." Harry practically spit his name out. "Sorry I tried to help, I guess I'll leave you to yourself." He got up and made his way to the stairs leading to a lower level of the bus.

Draco wasn't about to let him leave so he grabbed Harry's wrist and swung him around, forcing him against the wall.

"What's that supposed to mean, Potter?" he snarled, his face mere inches away from Harry's.

Both were to focused to notice the distance.

"It means, Malfoy, that you are an ungrateful bastard who will always be a jealous, stuck-up, muggle-hating pureblood, who will _never _have my friendship." Harry explained, landing a low blow with the 'friend' statement.

That word, friendship, broke Draco. It didn't make him furious like it would have any other time; instead, it made him open his eyes to the reality. _But that is what I need, what I want . . . _He gazed into Harry's eyes, whose eyes were sparkling with fury uninhibited by the dingy glasses, not daring to blink. Draco simply stopped thinking and let his body and lips move on their own free will. He leaned forward, eliminating the little distance separating them, clutched Harry's shirt, and rested his forehead against the other boy's heart (A/N: maniacal laughing ha, ha, made you think they were going to kiss for a second, didn't I?).

"I'm such a fool." Draco whispered almost inaudibly, against Harry's shocked-stiff body. "I'm sorry. I really am grateful, just . . . " He stood up and took a few steps back, never lifting his proud head, "You wouldn't understand, you're not a pureblood." _. . . you don't understand that I can't show any weakness . . . although I suppose I've already failed in that category . . . _"If you really want to go, then I can't stop you. I'll just elsewhere and forget this ever happened." _Whatever _this _may be . . . _Draco thought absentmindedly. He began to leave. Harry quickly regained his composure.

"Don't go. Just . . . just give it a chance. I'm sure I can get the Weasley's to understand." Harry figured if Draco could apologize then he could at least accept. "Why can't you just tell me, why do you get so defensive and clam up?

_Oblivious Gryffindor. _"It's rather personal, maybe I'll tell you sometime soon. "Draco weakly answered. "Thanks."

"I guess I'll just have to accept that." Harry offered concilatory smile, but Draco still wouldn't look up.

* * *

They didn't have to worry about awkward silences because they arrived at the Burrow only a few minutes after their little discourse. Stan looked at them oddly as they departed without so much as a nod. Harry spoke first when they were a mere five yards from the front door. 

"Stand behind me, but not hidden, and let me talk." Harry conducted.

"Don't worry, I won't make a sound." Draco assured, trying to put on a lighter mood. They shared a weak smile as they reached the door.

Harry took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. Not even a second passed before the door was flung open to reveal a dissheveled Mrs. Weasley in her nightghown. It was, after all, about 4:00a.m. This didn't stop her from an exuberant welcome.

"Hello Harry!" She exclaimed before enfolding him in a bone-crushing hug. "What brings you here? Why aren't you at the Dursleys'? Harry, you better not have intentionally disregarded Dumbledore; if you did I'll-- " She then had turned enough in her huff to see Draco standing right behind Harry's shoulder looking rather ruffled in his torn-up clothes. "Why is Malfoy with you?"

"May we come inside? It's rather cold out here." Harry pleaded, trying to keep the environment civilized. Dracio was about to make a formal greeting, thinking it might put Mrs. Weasley in a better mood but Harry shot him a look which made him freeze.

Mrs. Weasley narrowed her eyes in consideration. "Alright, I'll go make some tea."

As she went right toward the kitchen, Harry started showing Draco to the living room but they didn't make it far.

"Who is that?" A groggy Ron said as he made his way down the stairs, all the while rubbing his eyes, preventing him from seeing Harry or Draco. When he finally opened his eyes, he was surprised to say the least.

"Harry! What are you-- " Ron halted in mid-sentence and midbound when he noticed the other occupant of the room. "Are you playing a joke on me? No wait, I'm just dreaming, duh, why else would Malfoy be doing in my house?"

"Actually-- " Harry and Draco tried to explain in unison, but their word didn't reach Ron, who was thoroughly absorbed in thought (well, as much as Ron _could _be).

"That means I could punch Malfoy and not get in trouble!" Ron figured.

"I don't think so Weasel -ouch- I mean Weasley." Draco scowled at Harry and whispered, "What'd you do that for, Harry?"

"You do want to have a place to stay, _right _Draco?" Harry coaxed in a whisper.

"Oh, yeah." _Damn, I suppose that means I can't hurt the Weasel while he thinks that he's dreaming. _Draco sourly thought to himself.

Ron hadn't really heard what they were saying, but he did hear them referring to each other on a first name basis. _What kind of nightmare is this? _Ron thought as he slapped himself to check that he was asleep.

At that moment, Mrs. Weasley bustled out of the kitchen with the tea. "Ronald Weasley, why aren't you in bed?"

"This isn't a dream, is it?" Ron asked in a horrified whisper. Everybody shook their head. "Crap." He blushed right up to his ear tips and ran back upstairs, taking the steps three at a time, to his room.

"Watch your language Ronald." Mrs. Weasley called after the retreating boy. Harry and Draco exchanged a look of amusement and held in the fit of laughter that threatened to expose itself, which drew a wierd look from Mrs. Weasley.

"Please, sit." She offered. They both sat on the couch, side-by-side, across from Mrs. Weasley who had setted herself in a rocking chair. For a moment she just stared at them, sizing up the very abnormal situation. "Well, explain yourself Harry."

"Uh, well, I was going for a walk in the morning on my birthday-- oh, thank you for the cake it was delicious. I was going to the park so that I could watch the sun rise when I found Draco on a bench, sleeping. Well, I didn't know it was him at first. Anyways, he didn't have anywhere to stay, so I convinced my relatives he was a muggle and that he would work for them for free. Oh, then I got hit by car so Draco levitated me to the sidewalk," Harry puased and looked at Draco. "Hey, that means you saved my life once."

"Yeah, well you're still two up on me." Draco pointed out.

"Fine." Harry rolled his eyes. "Where was I? Oh yeah, so the Ministry sent him a letter even though it was a lfe or death situation, just to tell him that they knew. Well, unforunately, it just so happened that my uncle found the letter first and he threw us out of the house. That's the sum of things right, Draco?" Draco nodded in the affirmative and they both looked at Mrs. Weasley expectantly. "So can we stay?"

Mrs. Weasley was only half-listening at this point. She was still in shock; the boys, arch rivals, were on a first name basis and by the sound of things had each saved the other's life at least once.

"Wait, you were hit by a car!?" She yelled as the information caught up with her. "When?"

"Yesterday, Draco didn't see (or understand) the cross-walk sign, or he didn't see the car coming, so I pushed him out of the way." Harry replied, still eager to get an answer to his question. While waiting for someone to talk, the fireplace became green and Mr. Weasley walked out of it deep in thought.

"Damn Death Eaters." Mr. Weasley muttered to himself, heading towards the stairs, when a particularly loud cough emitted by his wife caught his attention.

"Oh, hello Harry m'boy," he greeted, but continued for a few steps until he did a doubletake. "Harry, what are you doing here? You should be at your relatives house-- "He stared at Draco, just now realizing his presence. _How many more awkward stares do I have to bear? _Draco thought to himself. Mr. Weasley gathered his wits and continued in a subdued voice, more so than would have been expected from him. "May I ask why Young Malfoy is here?"

Harry sighed but recounted what he had already told Mrs. Weasley just moments before.

As Mrs. Weasley had heard it twice now, she understood the situation. Well, at least more than her husband, who was currently lost in his muddled thoughts. As such, she spoke first. "I don't know Harry. It might be better for you to go to 12 Grimmauld Place. No offense Harry, but what about Malfoy?"

She was, of course, implying that he wasn't to be trusted. Said boy unwitingly huffed, "Would you mind not talking about me like I wasn't here?"

Harry shot him a look before staring Mr. and Mrs. Wesley straight in the eyes and stratigically saying, "Trust me. He's not the same as he was during school. And I would much rather stay here than . . . there. Memories, you know . . ." His voice faded at the end but they understood what he was referring to.

They all sat in silence, this time it was Mr. Weasley who broke the moment, "We should inform Dumbledore right away of the situation, but for now I suppose you two want to sleep; it sounds as though you've experienced quite a lot in the past two days." He finished with an unsure smile.

"Thank you." Harry and Draco said in unison which drew twin looks of surprise on the Weasleys' faces. The two boys stiffled a laugh.

"Well, we only have room for one more bed. Bill and Charlie are visiting, Hermione too . . ." Mrs. Weasley informed to be interrupted by yawnings all around. "You two, follow me upstairs; I'll have you stay in Ron's room."

They slowly made theirway up to Ron's room. The boys were moving especially sluggishly from their eventful yesterday. When they finally reached Ron's room, Mrs. Weasley opened the door, behind which Ron was talking animatedly to Fred and George about his "dream". When said door creaked open they froze. Mrs. Weasley entered first followed by a very, very tired Harry and Dracom who were yawning continuously now.

"Ron, Harry and Malfoy will be staying for tonight and possibly until school begins again." She toldthem with no rom for any arguements a she onjured up another bed out of thin air, and then left.

"George and I can share a bed if you two-- " Fred offered but was not heard so stopped talking.

Harry and Draco shuffled over to the unoccupied bed, collapsing one on each side of the bed, and promptly fell asleep.

Ron, Fred, and George gawked at the seemingly impossible sight that lay before them. None of them said anything and just sat in silent shock, staring until they were startled by the door opening again. Thinking it was their mother, they hurriedly got into bed. It turned out to be just Ginny.

"Who was at the door Ron--? " But her question was answered a she scanned the room and spotted Harry and Draco in the same bed. She blushed to her ear tips and ran from the room.

The three Weasleys soon fell asleep, tired by their confusion.

* * *

The next morning, or rather later that day, all the Weasleys and Hermione were eating brunch (it's elevenish) when Harry and Draco decided to make an appearance. 

When Harry woke up, he was meet with a breath-taking (in the shocking sort of way) scene in front of him, but not that far away. For he was mere inches from Draco's face, but that was just the beginning of the strangeness. Below he could feel Draco's legs intertwined with his own. Shocked stiff, Harry didn't mave as the sleeping boy scooted closer and nuzzled his head in the crook of his neck and muttered 'ehmm, so warm'. Harry's senses were over-loading, but eventually they woke up and turned themselves on; he panicked. He struggled out of Draco's embrace and collapsed on the floor with a loud 'thump', all the while breathing fast and shallow, staring wide eyed at the other boy's body. _What the hell was that? Why am I breathing like this? Why didn't I react sooner? _Harry's mind was fritzing with these strange questions. The noise, though, had woken Draco up.

Draco, having suddenly felt cold, opened his eyes and noticed Harry on the floor. He propped his head up on his hand and looked at him incredulously. His hair was ruffled and his voice was thick with sleep as he spoke slowly, drawing Harry's attention to his lips.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Draco asked, now curious about the boy's panicked face.

"Uh, just tripped when I got up, that's all, nothing else happened." Harry forced himself to look away with a lopsided smile and hastily stood up. "Well, off to eat." He spun around on his heels and proceeded to leave.

"Wait up." Draco said as he slowly made his way out of bed.

They made their way down the five flights of stairs without exchanging any further words. When they finally got near the bottom and in sight of the kitchen, Draco decided it would be a nice time to fall. And fall he did, right into Harry. They tumbled down the remaining stairs, and somehow, Draco ended up ontop of Harry. He had each of his hands on either side of Harry's head and his knees on either side of Harry's waist. The entire Weasley family and Hermione rushed out of the kitchen to find the source of the sound, and were they surprised.

Not everyone knew of Harry and Draco's arrival, so some were more taken aback than others. Seeing others' presence Draco sat bolt upright, which was a bad idea, what with friction and all. Harry closed his eyes and stiffled a moan as Draco's crotch made firm contact with his at a fast speed. _Oh please, for the love of Merlin, say that they didn't hear that, _Harry pleaded to himself. He opened his eyes and lifted his head so he was staring at the crowd upside-down.

"Hey guys, what's for breakfast?" Harry tried to say as nonchalantley as he could.

Stirred out of the moment, Draco shot up like a firecracker, mutered his apologies so only Harry could hear, and helped him up.

Hermione boldly spoke first, "Why are you here Malfoy?"

Harry frowned, and not wanting to once more have to repeat the story, he shortened it up considerably. "We needed a place to stay."

He walked into the kitchen with Draco following like a lost dog. After a moment everyone else shuffled in or elsewhere.

_Oh, damn could the day have started any wierder? _Harry and Draco thought simultaneously as they sat at the table.

Hermione sat across from Harry, who was sitting side-by-side with Draco (who was at the end of the table), while Ron sat across from Draco. Ginny placed herself next to Harry, and Fred and George were across from Ginny; everybody else had either gone to work or had gone off to do errands, as they had all finished eating before Harry and Draco had decided to join. Harry and Draco began eating, trying to ignore the stares that were directed at them.

"Could you pass the toast please, Harry?" Draco asked in his best tone of civility (not that he had to try hard as he was on good ground with Harry, it was just to please the Weasleys so they wouldn't throw him out, or have more reason to distrust him).

"Sure thing." Harry answered as he passed the plate.

"Oh my God!" Hermione exclaimed, they all froze and stared at her like she had lost it, "You're being . . . being . . . "

"I believe 'civil' is the word you are looking for Granger." Draco slipped in without raising his head.

"Yes, thank you. You are being civil to each other. Wait," Now realizing that it had been Draco who had helped her out of her tongue-tied state. "What's going on?"

"Yeah, I thought it was a dream too." Ron added with a slight blush.

"Eh, Draco-- "Harry began.

"And they're using each others' first name!" Ginny so brilliantly observed.

"Are they gay?" Fred and George asked mischeviously. Harry and Draco sputtered and choked on their food while everyone else present simply stared wide-eyed at the twins. "What? It's just a question, they _were_ in the same bed last night."

Harry blushed, but hid it stealthily.

Draco stupidly replied (he must be really tired), "It's not like it's the first time that we've slept together . . . Oh shit, that came out wrong." Draco added as he saw the general response of the table occupants, especially Harry who had become very pale and panicky looking, with a slight heat showing on his face. The twins were sniggering in glee.

Draco began to blush as well, "That's _not_ what I ment. We-- "

Ron had finally had enough of the word dance. "Whatever. What's with you, Harry. We hate _Malfoy_. Why do you keep calling him 'Draco', you aren't friends, right?"

Draco stood up ruffled. "Look Weasley, you don't understand. Just becuase you don't know-- "

"Stop!" Harry commanded. "Ron, we may have hated _Malfoy_," Draco cast him a shocked expression but he continued. "And he may not be my best mate, but he is certainly not my enemy any longer. Trust me. He's not the same as before, plus, he's had many opportunities (_albeit only over two days . . ._ ) and he hasn't."

"How can you say that Harry?" Ron yelled furiously.

Harry merely whispered. "He save my _life _Ron." This drew a hush over the occupants. "So when you feel like having a _civil _conversation, come find me." At that he stalked off toward the backyard with Draco following close behind.

"Can you believe that prick?" Ron exclaimed angrily.

"Don't talk about Harry that way Ron. He's our friend and you would do well not to forget that." Hermione lectured Ron.

"Well, it seems like he has." Ron bit back.

"That is not true and you know that Ronald. _We_, me _and_ you, need to trust him and give him a chance to explain. And you two," She wheeled around and glared at the conniving twins, "weren't helping one bit."

The twins completely ignored Hermione, "Oh, is poor wittle Ronnikins jealous of Malfoy taking away his Harry? Never got a chance to kiss him did'ya?"

Ron took the bait and blushed redder than his hair. Sensing danger, the twins ran from the room. "Oh, I'm gonna get you two!" Ron yelled as he chased them around the house.

"Really, those two." Hermione sighed to herself. "Eh, Ginny. Ginny?" The younger girl had slipped away during the conversation unnoticed.

Hermione shrugged it off and went to read a book in the middle of the chaos.

* * *

**Now that I think about it, I think I'll make Ginny obssesive . . . I don't know leave comment on what you think please.**

**Don't you just love awkward situations?! squees in delight**

**I quite like the title, I almost didn't choose it because it didn't follow the pattern of the other chapter names.**

**Again thank you all for the reviews XD They make me happy!**


	6. Chapter 6: Situations and Reasons

**Chapter 6: Situations and Reasons**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, just plot, all that good stuff you all know . . .**

**Authors Note: Sorry it took so long to update T.T, I had a major writer's block. I was also focused on part Harry Vs. Voldemort (a mini-comic with 11 parts (only 6 are up i have no scanner T.T) so check out my homepage, I'm such a horrible self plugger, hides face in shame)**

**I'm reposting this because it wasn't beta-ed the first time so yeah it'll have better spelling and grammer now.**

**Check it: My beta (Ibrium) has her own fanfic started, yay, so you all should check it out, she has a Harry/ Draco one shot, and is starting a Kanda/Allen (D.Gray-Man) fanfic.**

* * *

_Oh they can't get away that easily, _Ginny thought in a threatening tone as she slipped out of the kitchen to follow Harry and Draco. _Malfoy isn't going to take away _**my **_things. _

Harry was in quite the mood by the time he made it to the clearing that he usually played Quidditch on with the Weaselys. He sat down on the ground roughly, unaware of the pair of calculating eyes watching his every move.

"I can't believe Ron! He's so quick to anger, it's like he doesn't know me, or trust me! Oh, I don't know." He trailed of a sounding just a tad bit depressed. "I suppose _us _being civil _would_ be a bit of a shocker to him. Damn, it's just like that time in fourth year when my name got into the Goblet of Fire; he didn't believe me then either." Harry fumed.

Draco wasn't sure what to do, so he just sat next to Harry and listened. He was amazed that the Golden Trio even argued, _then again, I suppose they're just like everyone else . . . well, besides risking their necks every year . . . _Draco mused to himself as Harry kept talking. As Harry finished his rant, Draco was at even more at a loss for words. After all, he'd never had to be a listener before, he usually did all the talking. His "friends" were manipulative and calculating and shallow, taking everything apart to seek a weakness.

"We could just act like pricks towards each other like we used to." Draco offered waveringly.

Harry gave a short laugh. "I don't think I could do that. I'm not much of an actor." He looked up and smiled at Draco, and bumped his shoulder, "But thanks for the offer."

That friendly shoulder bump didn't go unnoticed by Draco, giving him an anticipatory feeling. "Well that's true you couldn't hide what you're thinking for even a second." Draco challenged. That smile just wouldn't leave him alone either and it made Draco feel lightheaded, W_hat's wrong with me? At that moment of contact...so pure._ Draco felt like an innocent child running in fields of poppies, with not a care in the world, _I think I should have eaten more, I think I'm becoming delirious . . ._

"Yeah? I bet I could learn to in a week." Harry prompted.

"You wish; that would actually be a _useful _talent." Draco played.

"I have proof." Draco just nodded with a disbelieving smile at what Harry was saying. "I could have been in Slytherin. Yep, the sorting hat said that I would, _could,_ have become great in Slytherin." Harry assured.

"Okay you believe that golden boy." Draco tossed, pretending to be uninterested, _Harry in Slytherin that could have changed everything . . ._ Harry frowned to himself.

In the silence their eyes meet, once more, only six inches from each other. Neither had realized they were sitting so close. So they sat there staring into each other's eyes; emerald green into liquid silver and liquid silver back into emerald green, a million reflections in the perfect glassy eyes. The breeze shifted, sending a chill through them both, white blonde and black hair whipping in the wind but never altering the moment into anything less. Seconds passed, both boys entranced by the other's eyes, closer, closer . . . so close. Suddenly, they were wrenched back into reality when they heard a loud crack. The moment was shattered when their eyes jerked towards the direction of the sound. They saw nothing, but the moment was lost and they were once more in the present.

"Right then." Harry said a bit flushed,_ what was that? His eyes are so . . . _he cleared his voice (mentally too), "How 'bout a fly-- what the--? There's a scorch mark behind you!" Harry observed once they had stood up.

"Well, that's weird." Draco shrugged, also a bit flushed from their little staring contest. "But I don't have my broom and I don't think--"

"Oh, we'll just use mine, then." Harry said lightly.

"Two people, one broom. Can you not add Potter?" Draco asked as a mock insult.

"Of course I can add, Malfoy." Harry said in mock hurt. "It _is_ a Firebolt, it should be able to handle two people, even if one of them has a fat ass."

"You better be talking about yourself." Harry shook his head. "Why you little-- " Draco blushed and proceeded to chase a laughing Harry in a circle.

"_Accio_, broom." Harry yelled, and after a few moments he took flight and flew just out of Draco's reach. Draco stood pouting at Harry as he began to circle above him with a wide smile plastered on his face. Busy in their child's play, neither noticed their watcher stand from their hiding place and stalk off, consumed in obsessive fury.

"Come on Harry, that's not fair. Let me on." Draco pleaded.

"I don't know, you doubt that the Firebolt can hold two people." Harry mocked. He decided it'd be much more rewarding to hover above the pleading boy, just low enough for him to brush the tips of his shoes. Seeing the other boy frustrated made him laugh even harder. "Has anyone ever told you that you look like a five year old when you pout?"

Draco was appalled by the implication, but chose to act on the moment anyway, "I don't pout." He humphed, turned around, and crossed his arms.

"Oh does wittle Draky-kins want a ride on the fast pretty broom?" Harry teased, inching just a little closer to Draco. "Oh come off it, I was just-- "Harry lowered farther, "Draco-- ". That was a mistake, but exactly what Draco had been hoping for. Before Harry had time to react, Draco had spun around with a mischievous look as he tackled him to the ground.

Harry, out of instinct, dropped his Firebolt before it could get damaged in the tumble. The fall was a considerable one when he dropped the broom. So down he went about 4 feet (yes that is a considerable fall), momentarily landing on Draco before they started to roll on the plush grass. Even though they were thoroughly intertwined, they continued to roll, more like writhing in one place by now, laughing and struggling to gain dominance. Draco won out in the end. He finally sat on Harry's middle, effectively pinning him to the ground (remind you of a certain stair incident?). Harry sure noticed the similarity in position and immediately blushed. Draco missed this entirely as he was beaming with victory and laughing heartily, consequentially causing his body to jostle. This movement was, to say the least, uncomfortable for the smaller boy bellow him, who was trying to squirm away.

"Don't think you can weasel your way out of this." Draco laughed. "I'm finally in control."

"Now why would you say that? I'm _clearly_ ferreting my way out of the situation at hand." Harry countered brilliantly.

Draco scoffed. "That's not funny-- " he was interrupted by Harry poking him hard in the sides, making him jolt (more like thrust . . . XD) and topple off his attacker and previous captive.

Draco grabbed his sides, and moaned, "Oh, you got me in the kidneys." Harry was looking at Draco and smiled, they both broke out into a fit of laughter (somebody obviously hit their giggle buttons). They lay down and watched as the clouds floated by and the sun begin to dip. A light breeze began to blow over the two that, coupled with the warmness, put the two boys in a very content state. Their breaths slowed and became even, and soon enough they had fallen asleep.

* * *

Ginny stomped into the family room and threw herself into a chair next to the crackling fire. She could feel the fury shape her face, _how could he laugh with him? He must have done something, but what? _Her discontent (to say the least) must have shown from a distance because Hermione said something. 

"Are you alright Ginny? You look . . . bothered." Hermione asked out of concern.

Ginny's face instantaneously became that of an innocent angel, "Of course, why?"

Hermione looked at the other girl, speechless. _Must have been a trick of the light, after all, Ginny has no reason to be angry. _"Oh, nothing, just my imagination." She smiled and continued to read.

Ginny up and left to go to her room, she needed to write a letter. _No one is going to out play me._

* * *

A short while later, Ron came tromping down the stairs, interrupting Hermione's reading. 

"Hey Hermione, do you know where Harry is? I can't find him anywhere." Ron asked, slightly put out.

"Have you checked outside?" Hermione queried without even looking up from her book.

"Good idea, thanks." At that he strode out the door in search of his friend.

_Wow, I think Ron's actually grown up! _Hermione mused to herself, _Last time it took him weeks for him to listen to Harry. _She sighed to herself and filed that thought in the back of her brain filed under to title 'for later reconsideration'.

Ron hit himself on the head, _why didn't I think that he'd be outside? It's so obvious; after all, he wasn't in the house. Should have known he'd go to the clearing. _He stiffly walked toward his intended destination trying to get there as fast as possible, yet still unsure as to what he was going to say. He still didn't like Malfoy, and wasn't about to, even if Harry asked him to . . . But he did realize that he needed to trust Harry to explain. He relaxed a bit as he was at the edge of the clearing when he stopped dead in his tracks. _What the-- _his heart flipped and ceased movement. Harry and Draco were laying on the grass, unmoving, with Harry's Firebolt not to far way. Ron immediately jumped to dramatic conclusions and ran to Harry's side.

"Harry! Harry! Wake up Harry!" Ron yelled completely freaked.

Harry rolled onto his side, toward Draco, "Unhg, le' me 'lone. Sleepy."

Ron was relieved but the emotion quickly settled into peeved. "Why the bloody hell are you taking a nap in the middle of the field next to Malfoy, not to mention leaving your Firebolt unattended? Get up."

Harry yawned and sat up. "Alright, alright, already. What?"

Surprisingly the racket hadn't woken up Draco who was sleeping noiselessly away.

"'What?' I came out here to listen. So talk." Ron said gruffly, yet still rather maturely (for him at least), however contradictory that was to the ruckus he'd caused.

Harry sat cross legged, propping his head up with his hand, "Oh that, right."

* * *

No sooner had Hermione begun to read, yet another person walked into the room. But this time they came from the fireplace; it was Dumbledore. Hermione not having known he was coming was startled right out of her chair. She blushed as she stood up and brushed herself off. 

"Hello Professor, what brings you to the Burrow?" She questioned conversationally.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his half moon glasses as he smiled at her. "I'm just here to sort out where Harry and Malfoy will be staying for the remainder of the summer."

"Oh, of course, they're in the clearing in the backyard." Hermione explained without having to be asked.

"Thank you dear." He walked passed her as she nodded, gliding over the grass as he made his way to the aforementioned place. When he got to the edge he heard some yelling, when he took a closer look he found that it was Ron making all the noise. When he approached the boys were silent, but not because they had seen him coming towards them.

"How have you boys been doing this summer?" Dumbledore asked cheerfully. The heads of Ron and Harry shot up like firecrackers.

"Hello Dumbledore." Harry and Ron greeted in unison, surprised.

"I think it would be better if I spoke to Harry and Mr. Malfoy alone." Dumbledore smiled kindly at Ron.

Ron lowered his head, "Sure thing." He stood up and looked at Harry. "We'll talk later." Harry nodded in response.

Once Ron was out of sight Dumbledore conjured up a chair, a table with some tea and lemon drops, and a couch. "I think it would do well for you to wake up Mr. Malfoy." He sat down and began to pour tea.

Harry muttered 'okay' and attempted to wake Draco up. This task turned out to be much harder than one would first expect. First he tried shaking the boy awake and, when that didn't elicit any response other than a mumble or a swat at his hand, he tickled the boy's nose with some grass; this only made him sneeze. Harry began to get impatient, especially since Dumbledore was smiling at him incessantly.

"Draco," Harry hissed, "Get up. We have to talk to Dumbledore." This still held no effect on the slumbering boy. After a few more tries with poking and prodding he was about to give up when an ingenious idea struck him.

"Dumbledore, may I have a bucket of water please?" Harry could barely hide his mirth.

"Of course, Harry. There you are." Dumbledore replied as he magicked a bucket out of thin air right next to Harry.

"Thank you." Harry snickered to himself as he turned to the sleeping boy. Then, without warning, he emptied a gallon of ice cold water onto the unsuspecting boy. That sure did the trick. Draco sat up sputtering water, completely soaked and consequently shivering furiously.

"Wh-what d-did y-you do that f-for?" Draco asked incredulously, teeth clattering away.

"Dumbledore is here to talk to us about where well be staying for the rest of the summer." Harry whispered to Draco to save him from some embarrassment, all the while trying very hard not to laugh. _He looks like a drowned ferret!_

Draco's mouth formed an 'o' of realization colored by blush as he got up to sit properly on the offered couch next to Harry.

"Lemon drops?" Dumbledore asked with an outstretched hand with a bowl full of candy. They both shook there heads and they all relaxed into their seats. "As you know I've been informed of the situation, although I must say that there was very little information. But that doesn't really matter; what I'm interested in is exactly why and how you, Mr. Malfoy, ended up at Harry's house."

Draco shifted uncomfortably, unsettled by the placement of the headmaster's interest. "It was an accident."

"Mr. Malfoy, it's important that you tell me the truth, all of it." Dumbledore insisted. "One does not simply show up coincidentally at another's house. Especially when they are known to not be so well acquainted . . . Are you unwilling to tell me in front of Harry?"

Draco avoided Harry's look of inquisition and answered the question, kind of. "I didn't want to stay at the Manor, it was getting quite boring," he embellished in his best tone of superiority, "so I caught the Knight Bus and asked that they take me to . . . to . . . "He stumbled on what to say next, he still didn't trust Dumbledore enough to tell him his switch in allegiances, so he lied, "Well, I don't remember exactly what I said, I was very tired, but they dropped me off in a park which just happened to be near Harry's house. See. It was just a coincidence."

"Hmm." Dumbledore sat back in thought, taking in Draco's words. "Well, I don't see a problem in you two staying here, as summer is almost over. Just be careful when you get your school supplies. That's all for the two of you. Harry why don't you go inside, I have a few more things I want to clear up with Mr. Malfoy."

Harry frowned in puzzlement, but had no ground for argument. "Sure, see you later Draco." He picked up his broom and left.

"Bye." Draco waved weakly at Harry's retreating back. _What else could this old coot have to talk about with me? _He asked himself thoroughly confused.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me?" Dumbledore inquired.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked suspiciously.

"I noticed that you both now refer to each other by first names. May I call you Draco?" Dumbledore smiled warmly.

This familiarity made Draco's stomach churn; something just wasn't right. _What the hell's he getting at? _Draco swallowed his sick feeling, narrowed his eyes, and mocked a smile, "Go right ahead." At this he leaned forward ready for a challenge. _This old man isn't going to get the best of me. _

"How about a drying charm? You were quite hard to wake up, it's the least I could do." The headmaster offered politely.

Draco nodded his consent and he was soon warm and dry but he still didn't like the man.

Dumbledore laced his fingers gingerly and leaned forward, bringing his face a mere two feet from Draco's. "Draco, why did you switch sides?"

The question was simple enough, yet the hardest and most unwelcome question Draco had ever received. Draco chose to just gawk at the headmaster. _How the hell does he know that!? _For a moment his mind raced until it just ceased all functions. He dryly asked in a bare whisper, "How do you know that?"

Dumbledore sat back with the accomplished look of a large, carnivorous wild animal that had just eaten a baby elk. The smile was plastered on his face most disconcertingly. "It doesn't matter how I know, but thank you for confirming the fact. What I'm more interested in is why? You could have become a very successful Death Eater and then acted as a very _useful_ spy. Well, if we remedy things, yes, it's still possible for you to take the dark mark and become a spy for--"

Draco was beyond surprise. _Is he crazy? Why would he do that, it's so . . . so . . . inhumane. That would be suicide; doesn't he know my father would see right through me? He's the master of lying and reading people! It's like he wants . . . _His thought was left dangling unfinished as he stood up. "My reasons, I can assure you, do **_not_** concern you. Now I do believe that this conversation is **_over_**, good day." Not waiting for a response he strode off in quite the mood with his thoughts running rampant in his head. He quickly made it to the house and into the family room.

Finally tired with his random fire thoughts he threw his hands up in defeat and shouted, not realizing he was in the house. "Oh just SHUT UP!!!"

"No one's talking Draco." Harry said curiously.

"I was talking to myself." He explained roughly and brushed past them to climb up the stairs.

"Dra-" Harry tried but the boy was already out of hearing distance.

"What was that all about?" Hermione asked, unphased.

"I don't know." Harry replied still quite befuddled.

* * *

Draco threw the door open to Ron's room and began to pace and mumble to himself. "How can this be happening!? How could he know? Well I suppose that much is obvious, Snape could have told him, but that's fast. It's not like my father would _want_ everyone to find out that his son is a defector . . . unless . . ." 

"Uh . . . Malfoy what's wrong with you? You can't just barge in on people without knocking!!!" Ron yelled exasperated. This desperate tone pulled Draco out of his quandary to a very unwelcome sight.

Ron wearing only a towel and a blood red blush from ear to ear.

Draco's eyes bulged out of his head and managed to mutter 'Oh . . . My . . . God. I'm _so_ sorry' before sprinting out the door, down the stairs, and right into Harry. This collision sent Harry flying across the hallway to land roughly, once again, on his bum.

Draco ran to his side. "Are you alright?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing. You seem, to say the least, uptight." Harry put forth when Draco made no attempt to explain he continued. "You seemed ruffled when you came in after that talk with Dumbledore, you were out there for a while . . ."

"Oh, it was nothing," Draco stated but Harry was still looking at him oddly. "Really, nothing."

"Okay." Harry accepted still unsure, "That doesn't explain why you were running down the stairs . . ."

Draco's eye twitched involuntarily as a shidder (shiver + shudder, Sky has such great verbal abilities XD) ran down his spine. "To . . . disturbing . . . you don't want to know. Trust me."

"Whatever you say." Harry replied.

They, having nothing better to do, joined Hermione in the family room. They played wizarding chess a few times along with some rounds of exploding snaps. Draco always won, making Hermione laugh at Harry's sour face, until Mrs. Weasley came in to announce that dinner was ready.

"Hermione, could you go call everyone who is still upstairs?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Okay." Hermione put her book down and skipped up the stairs.

For dinner Harry say between Draco and Ron, with Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George across from him. Conversations were lively at the "adult" table but at Harry's table Ron kept blushing, Draco was pale and twitchy, andGinny was moodily silent, leaving Hermione and Harry out of the loop because Fred and George broke out in fits of giggles every now and then. Hermione couldn't stand letting herself be left in the dark.

"What in Merlin's name is so funny, you two? You'd think someone had pressed your giggle buttons." Hermione asked eager for an answer. This question only managed to make Fred and George begin to giggle once more and Ron blush harder.

Harry leaned over to Draco and whispered, "Does this have anything to do with why you were running down the stairs?"

Before Draco could answer (other than going paler) the twins did.

"Yeah, Ron put on a little show for your new friend." Fred began.

"He was rightly on display, half naked and all." George finished.

Ron muttered 'Not hungry anymore, I'm off to bed' as he left the table in a rush. Harry snickered and Hermione blushed.

"It's not funny." Draco huffed. "My eyes could be scarred for life, for _life_, I might need horrendous glasses, that would off-set my cheekbones--"

"Hey glasses can be cool-- " Harry defended.

"-- All freckled and no way near as tone as you." Draco complained.

Harry choked on his green beans, _did he just say what I think he said? _The twins smiled mischievously. "And how often do you look at Harry's _toned _body?" This elicited a blush from Harry.

"What are you talking about?" Draco clearly oblivious to what they were hinting at. "You can't hide a body like _that _under Quidditch robes. After all, I do have to watch him the entire game because I know he'll always spot the snitch first." He answered completely serious.

Fred looked at George and spoke to him as if no one else was there, "I do believe that he fancies our Harry, wouldn't you say George?"

"Why yes, yes I would." George agreed all Watson-like (you know Sherlock Holmes's side-kick).

"Not this again." Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed

Neither boy offered a defense so Ginny stepped in, or rather stood. "Doesn't matter, it's not like Harry would _ever_ fancy him back." She snapped and abruptly left without another word.

"Geez, what's with Ginny? It was just a joke. She's been acting strange; she's shut herself in her room, muttering madly and writing something." George insightfully observed.

"Right. So what did Dumbledore tell you two?" Hermione stealthily changed the subject.

"He said we could stay. Although," Harry looked at Draco, _Maybe if I bring it up he'll talk. _He reasoned to himself before continuing. "He kept talking to Draco." Hermione's inquiring look left Harry and shifted to Draco.

"He just wanted to know if he needed to inform my parents." Draco put on the best smile he could muster and hoped that she'd buy it. She did. But Harry didn't. _Damn nosey bastard, well I suppose there's no way around it . . . _

The rest of dinner passed uneventfully and everyone slowly went to bed. Eventually this left only Harry and Draco savoring the last bits of their desserts. Harry was just about to propose that they head off to bed when Draco spoke up, strangely serious.

"I need to tell you something." Draco stared intently at Harry.

Harry spoke not in the least put off by his seriousness, yet. "Okay, shoot." Draco stalled as he gathered his thoughts, so Harry sipped his pumpkin juice, bad idea.

"Harry, I switched sides."

* * *

**Ha ha ha ha ha, I'm so evil, I don't update for almost a month and then I leave you with a horrible cliff hanger!!! **

**What wil happen next . . . duhn duhn duhn.**

**Sorry the title sucks . . . yeah that's all no reason for it . . . it just sucks . . .**

**Okay please don't kill me I didn't mean to take so long to get this chapter up really I didn't.**

**"I'm going to weasel my way out of this. Weasel, weasel, weasel, weasel, weasel!" I said that to my friend and she started laughing histerically like so hard she couldn't breath (i'm so evil) and then i walked up to her and stabbed her in the kidneys. XD**

**Sky was trying to explain cold shivers and instead said he "shiddered" and thereforth was born a wonderful word XD**

**I have no life . . .**

**But I finished Harry vs Voldemort (mini comic) but i don't have a scanner now T.T**

**I'll go cry myself to sleep now.**

**I promise to get the next chapter up . . . quicker . . . well I'll promise to try**

**Till next time XS**


	7. Chapter 7: Distractions and Staring

**Chapter 7: Distractions and Staring**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the characters of Harry Potter . . . **

**Author notes: I will be changing the title because I have finally devised a real plot . . . thought I had one well I fooled you heh, heh . . .yeah anyways it really has a real plot now. I will change the title when I post chapter 8 so that everyone knows first, that is if I have even thought up a fitting title by then . . . if not then it'll be chapter 9 . . .**

**And thank you all for the reviews XD They make me smile!!!**

**Enjoy XD**

* * *

"Harry, I switched sides." Draco blurted in one breath.

This came out of left field for Harry and hit him square in the stomach. He sprayed his pumpkin juice everywhere. Thankfully, he avoided Draco. "Excuse me?" Harry sputtered, eyes bulging from his head.

"Look, you can't possibly be that dense Harry." Draco snapped defensively, quickly regretting this as soon as he saw Harry's face harden into a frown. "I'm _not_ taking the Dark Mark and I'm _not_ becoming a Death Eater." He added in a much more subdued tone.

Harry thought he was dreaming, although his dreams usually weren't so pleasant. _Well something tells me that he's not lying . . . but why? Why tell me now? . . . _Through his thinking he stared at Draco searching for any sign. All he saw was a very unsure, vulnerable, and uncomfortable Draco Malfoy, not that the boy would ever admit to feeling such a way. He studied the boy's eyes to see the truth and saw it reflected right back at him. Draco restrained himself from fidgeting under Harry's calculating scan and fiddled with the hem of his sleeve.

"Why?" It was a simple enough of a question but that's all Harry could think of, and frankly, it was the only one that was needed. Draco had hoped Harry would ask because he didn't think he could explain further without a push. He sighed and gathered his thoughts.

"I don't think I ever truly intended on becoming a Death Eater. I never really thought about it, I just knew it was expected as a Malfoy and I just accepted it. But when I started understanding what it meant, seeing all the cruel things my father did, I was disgusted (_and scared_). Even when I did eventually make up my mind I couldn't do anything about it, my father would have killed me. Only mother knew; she was the one who showed me what my father was. I hide the truth from everyone else. By that time it was too late to act civilly towards you so I couldn't tell you either, it would have looked suspicious if all of a sudden I was being all chummy to the Wizarding World's Golden Boy without being seen as a Death Eater trying to deliver you into the Dark Lord's hands. This summer, having turned of age, I decided to leave."

"Then did you actually ask the Knight Bus to take you to my house?" Harry asked bewildered.

"No. I mean, not really, I asked for them to take me to the safest place from Death Eaters and it brought me there." Draco shrugged nervously, glad that Harry was taking in everything calmly. He had thought that Harry would have flipped out or laughed at him. He shifted uneasily at his next question, "Why aren't you angry, or upset, or, for that matter, laughing at me?"

Harry thought about it for a second before he answered. "You've been nice to me since we've been stuck together so I guess I just forgot how I was supposed to act towards you. Look," Harry said seriously catching Draco's eyes. "To me you're not Malfoy anymore, you're Draco." They shared a heart warming smile before he continued. "Why didn't you just tell me the first time I asked?"

"Well, because that's not really the answer to your question . . . there's more to why I finally left . . . I . . . please, I can't tell you that yet . . ." Draco muttered but Harry just looked at him to continue. "I'm telling you know because somehow Dumbledore already knows, which is really creepy. I didn't want him telling you because I think he was . . . disappointed… that I hadn't taken the Dark Mark." He explained haltingly. When he finished he glanced at Harry.

"Why would Dumbledore be disappointed?" Harry queried.

"Dumbledore doesn't have a halo on his head in my eyes, he's just an old man in need of retirement (_or St. Mungo's_). That's why he kept me so long; he was babbling about 'fixing' the situation by making me a Death Eater and acting as a spy for something called the Order of the Phoenix . . . he sounded a bit… _obsessive_." Draco retorted.

Harry fell quiet in his puzzlement, thinking over all Draco had presented to him. It seemed unlikely to him that Dumbledore would tell Draco about the Order, but then again, he didn't think Dumbledore would want a spy _that_ badly either. He gave up trying to find an answer and figured it was time for sleep. He smiled with fatigue, "Why don't we sleep on it?"

Draco was upset that Harry neither defended nor contradicted what he'd said about Dumbledore, but agreed that it was time for bed. "Sure. Would you mind not telling anyone? I . . . I just don't think they'd believe me."

"Okay, as long as you tell them when you're ready." Harry prompted.

"You've got a deal." Draco agreed with a half-smile.

They walked the rest of the way to bed in a contented silence. Both boys quietly crept up the stairs so that they wouldn't disturb any other sleepers. When they finally slipped soundlessly into Ron's room, they found two open beds with pajamas ready to be slept in at the foot of them. They were only confused for a moment over there being two beds as they quickly saw that Fred and George were cuddling in the bed opposite of Ron. They changed and got in their beds, barely saying goodnight before falling asleep.

* * *

_(Today is August 3, it's only the forth day that Draco has been with Harry, I really should make time go by faster T.T)_

Harry awoke with a stream of light bathing his face. He leisurely arched into a stretch and reached for his glasses. When he sat up he was momentarily confused by the darkness, when he realized it was a shadow; Ron's shadow.

"Hey Ron." Harry greeted sleepily as he reached for his glasses on the nightstand.

Before Ron responded he sat on the edge of the bed next to Harry. "So you feel like explaining your new shadow Malfoy?"

"Ha, ha. There's really not much to say. He needed a place to stay and I thought it would be a good way to humiliate him in front of some muggles by telling them he was a muggle too. It was quite a show for a bit. Then I saved his life a few times and he saved mine and he's just . . . well…different." Harry summed up the past days lightly, hoping Ron would accept it and let the subject rest.

"Well, it's not like you're friends." Ron stated matter-of-factly, yet it held the unspoken question of 'right?' at the end.

Harry shrugged noncommittally and got up taking off his pajama top as he started to get dressed. Ron was about to make something of Harry's shrug but at that moment Draco woke up with a wide un-Malfoy-like yawn.

"Morning Harry, Weasley." Draco quickly averted his eyes, both because Harry was shirtless (_He's so toned, _his mind interjected) as well as the memory of Weasley still made him sick.

Ron had obviously decided to repress that particular memory overnight for he was unphased by his aversion but instead scowled and got up to leave.

"See you at breakfast, mate." Ron left them to get dressed.

After the door closed behind him Draco nervously looked over at Harry. "Um, Harry, I don't have any clean clothes . . ." He muttered, slightly embarrassed.

"If you don't mind wearing muggle clothes you can borrow some of mine. You're only a bit taller than me, not that that matters as all my clothes are hand-me-downs from Dudley, so they'll be too big." Harry offered unsure if Draco would be repulsed by such clothing.

"Okay, but really Harry, you're surrounded by wizards, you could just ask Mrs. Weasley to fit your clothing with a simple spell." Draco found Harry's simple mind cute. _Cute? Harry cute? I really need to get my head checked out . . . _"I may be a light wizard now, but that's no excuse to dress poorly."

Harry rolled his eyes, but found Draco's humor rather charming, in a completely 'friend' sort of way. After all, why would Harry Potter find Draco Malfoy charming? Catching on he played along. "I do apologize for offending your godly eyes with my shabby attire. I shall leave at once and relieve you of your suffering."

"While you're up man-slave, toss me some clothes." Draco commanded with his best air of superiority.

"Of course, my liege." Harry bowed his head to hide his smile as he retrieved some clothing. "I will inform the Head maid of your need of refitting."

"Good thinking, servant." Draco smirked, hiding his amused smile for the sake of the act. "And I expect the food to be warm and delicious."

Harry bowed his way out of the room leaving Draco to his business. _Life could have been so much simpler if he acted like that all the time, with no defenses. Although, school would have been far less entertaining. Yet I suppose his pride probably wouldn't have let it happen, I did reject his friendship and all. I bet he still remembers that. Maybe I can . . ._

"Morning Harry." Ginny interrupted Harry's thought with an eerie smile plastered on her face.

"Morning Ginny, you look bright today." Harry complimented. "Either that or you have something up your sleeve." He added jokingly.

Ginny twitched and hastily spoke. "Of course not, just glad you're here, that's all."

"Okay (_Geez, don't bite my head off_). How has your summer been, excited for fifth year?" Harry asked conversationally, after all, he hadn't really talked much with Ginny, let alone anyone else since his unannounced arrival with Draco.

"The usual: boring homework. But now that you're here it's bound to get better." Ginny replied vaguely, with a planned smile on her face.

"Hey mate, what took you so long?" They had reached the kitchen when Ron asked his question.

Harry, in the after effects of his and Draco's little play, answered in a servant-like tone. "My liege required my assistance in getting dressed for the day."

"You helped your what get dressed?" Ron inquired, clearly confused by the complex word 'liege'.

Harry sighed at Ron's small vocabulary (not that his was much better). "Draco didn't have any clean clothes so I lent him some of mine."

Ron choked on the eggs he had been shoveling in his mouth. After some labor he managed to not suffocate and swallowed them hard and gasped. "You let him wear your clothes?"

"Yeah we're about the same size, not that that matters, all my stuff is to big to begin with anyways . . . Ron?" Mid-sentence Ron's jaw had dropped right along with everyone else's. "What are you guys--?"

He was cut-off when the four Weasleys began to cackle uncontrollably. Hermione was being polite and smothered her outburst with a silly, wide grin. Harry, desperate to know what they could possible be laughing at, turned around.

There standing before him was Draco, tapping his foot impatiently, radiating annoyance, with crossed arms and a death glare directed at Harry. He was wearing a t-shirt that was about ten sizes too big and that used to be grey but had clearly been put in the wash with something red making it a moldy shade of pink. Paired with that he wore what were suppose to be shorts but were so big they looked like jeans of a moldy green color, these were held up by a unraveling piece of rope. The simply delectable ensemble, topped off with Draco's bed head, made for quite a cackle-deserving sight.

Draco placed his hands on his hips angrily. "I suppose you're going to tell me you didn't mean to give me the most horrendous outfit you own."

"Of course, I would never do anything like that on purpose my liege." Harry said innocently, he really hadn't meant to pick such hideous clothing but he didn't regret it, it was very entertaining, and it's not like Draco could stay mad at him . . . for long.

"Harry!" Draco whined very un-Malfoy-like. "Fix it. Now!"

Harry laughed at the childish sight before him. "I can't do anything."

"What's all the noise about?" Mrs. Weasley had been distracted from her housework by all the ruckus. "Oh my, what happened to you Malfoy?"

Her reaction caused yet another wave of laughter and a blush to blossom faintly on Draco's cheeks, only enough for Harry to see.

"Come along dear, I'll fix you right up." At that Mrs. Weasley pulled Draco out of the room. He didn't put up much of a fight seeing as he would rather not be laughed at anymore.

After the laughter died down Fred complimented Harry on his 'prank'. "That was a good one Harry. It's ingenious in its simplicity."

"I suppose." Harry smiled. "But I really didn't do it on purpose. I don't have much of a wardrobe to begin with so it really was just an accident."

"Oh Harry, so modest." George added, clapping him on the back in praise. "If you want we can give you some experimental--"

"George Weasley! You had better not be offering Harry something dangerous." Mrs. Weasley warned as she entered with a much better dressed Draco. Well, anything is better than what he started with, so he was acceptable looking in a fitting pair of faded jeans and fitted gray t-shirt. "Now, if you are all quite done with breakfast," she emphasized this by magically busting the dishes. "Go out and de-gnome."

While all the Weasleys grumbled, Harry bounced out of his chair. He found de-gnoming rather fun. Well, as long as they didn't bite him. Hermione hadn't done it before, and neither had Draco, so they shared a twin look of confusion, which sent Harry into a fit of silent giggles that got him a funny look from Ron.

"De . . . gnoming?" Draco asked Harry quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear, unsure of how he should be reacting.

"Don't worry, it's fun." Harry assured jovially, beaming with a bright smile.

Draco couldn't resist the smile and gave in, he playfully bumped Harry's shoulder. "Alright, it's not like I have anything to lose." He rolled his eyes at himself, _Why can't I resist that smile? _He followed the crowd out the door right behind Harry's shoulder. All but one missed Draco's reaction to Harry, and they were upset to say the least, but all they could do was scowl, for now.

Once outside Fred, George, and Ginny spread out and started to work. Ron and Harry hung back to show Hermione and Draco how it was done. After a demonstration of Ron picking up a gnome roughly by its feet and swinging it senseless in circles around his head and Hermione refused to do such an "abusive" act. When Ron got frustrated she stalked into the house. Draco laughed at their little row, then realizing he had to do physical labor he immediately began to complain.

"You don't actually expect me to de-gnome? It's so . . . low-class and degrading." Draco drawled giving a pointed look at Ron to pick a fight.

"What afraid you'll break a nail?" Ron fueled the fire. "Or are you afraid you won't be able to do it?"

Draco took the bait; he needed a challenge. Being civil with Harry had its perks and all, but the animosity was gone, so it was hard to turn down some fun. He scoffed. "Why wouldn't I be able to? After all, I can do anything and more than you, this should be easy."

When it comes to showing off, Draco always wins, this time was no exception, so he confirmed his statement not only being able to de-gnome, but by doing it just as well as Fred and George, the self-proclaimed masters of de-gnoming. The twins may have been excited by the new competition but Ron was peeved knowing that Draco was sure to shove the fact in his face later. Harry found watching Draco de-gnome enticing, the fitted t-shirt was just so, fitted. He could follow the other boy's muscles work smoothly as they tightened, swung and released. He had been staring for a while when out of nowhere a gnome hit him in the back of the head. When he lost his balance and started falling backwards he could have sworn he saw Ginny smiling. He fell onto the ground with a great thump and moan, unfortunately, the gnome didn't land far from him and proceed to latch onto his leg and gnaw.

"Ah Merlin!" Harry screamed in pain. "It hurts worse than a damn basilisk bite, at least then the poison made me delusional." He threw his head back and howled in pain. "Who the hell threw that gnome at me?!" Fred and George were first over; they began to wrestle the angered gnome off his bleeding leg. They finally won out and threw the little bugger into the distance.

Draco was the next to arrive, he lent over Harry's face. "Are you alright Harry?" His voice was concerned but quite, so only Harry heard the concern. He began to pet his head and quickly found the wound on the back of his head that was bleeding slightly and was swelling fast. _Can he even go a day without getting injured?_

"Yeah I'm fine." Harry tried to sit up but quickly grabbed his pulsing head from sitting up too fast. Before he could fall backward Draco steadied him. "Thanks." He muttered.

"No problem." Draco smiled at the back of Harry's head before positioning himself so that Harry was leaning against his chest to be more comfortable. "You can survive getting hit by a car but a mere flesh would gets you screaming?"

"Ha, ha, you try having a full set of sharp teeth buried in your leg." Harry replied with a slight wince. Fred and George watched the relaxed exchange of words with great interest.

"Ouch mate, you're gonna need to put some ice on that. It's swellin' fast." Ron stated the obvious as he was the last to reach Harry, right after Ginny.

"Who would throw a gnome at Harry?" Ginny implored.

"Probably the ferret, just to start something." Ron answered harshly.

Ginny smirked at her brother's predictable assumption. She stealthily slipped out of the conversation before it heated up and skipped back to the house with an accomplished smirk.

"And do tell why I would do that, weasel. You're the one quick to place blame on somebody else, maybe it was you." Draco glared and pointed an accusing finger at Ron. They glared murderous daggers of hate at each other; with every passing second Harry could feel Draco's body tense behind him, hardening in anticipation. When Harry thought Draco was about to pounce he intervened.

"For Merlin's sake would you two just shut up? Fred, George, since you two aren't busy, could you help me up and into the house?" Harry looked disapprovingly at the bickering children, his gaze lingered on Draco, The boy know exactly what that look meant _'You can't act like that anymore, you have to at least feign indifference if you're not going to be civil, but do not raise to the bait or bait anyone else. Got it?' _

Draco opted out of bearing the full weight of the look and stared at the ground guiltily. He knew he was going to get it later, not that he minded. _Any interaction with Harry is welcome . . . wait, what's that suppose to mean? Who uses the word 'interaction' anymore? **You know exactly what it means. **_Draco's mind taunted himself. _No I . . . **Yes, just look at the way his smile affects you, you want . . . **Shut up, this conversation is over! _Draco yelled at himself with finality, but just like himself, his mind had to have the last words, **_just take him. _**He groaned in self-denial and followed Harry, the twins, and Ron into the house.

"Oh my! What happened to you Harry?" Mrs. Weasley screeched.

"Just a flying gnome incident." Harry said lightly but glared a _'shut up'_ face at Ron and Draco.

"I'll fix it up right quick." Mrs. Weasley drew her wand and muttered a simply healing charm for the forming bump and bruise on his head and another for his bleeding leg. "Dear, you should really learn some healing spells." Harry laughed heartily and agreed. "Well, lunch is ready, come and eat. I've decided that we'll all be going to Diagon Alley a week from tomorrow." She announced after everyone had taken a seat. Ginny beamed at this news, Hermione took notice and thought she was excited for school.

"So, you're excited for school to start Ginny?" Hermione inquired.

"Yeah, sure." Ginny averted her eyes from the nosy girl and became very interested in buttering some toast.

"Hey Draco, I just remembered you said you didn't bring any money with you. If you want I could-- "Harry began but was halted by Draco's appalled look.

"Shhh, Harry. I'd never hear the end of it if Weasley found that out." Draco looked as if he'd been mistaken for a Hufflepuff.

"Sorry." Harry backed off and tried his and at speaking vaguely. "Do you want me to, help pa-you?"

Draco looked truly torn between accepting and declining to keep the infamous Malfoy pride intact. Unfortunately his inner turmoil was not to be resolved at this time. Fred and George shared an unnoticed and brief look and nod before they announced enthusiastically.

"Let's play some Quidditch!"

"But we just started eating." Ron immediately started to complain. "And Malfoy is here, he'll--"

Draco cut in before he made any more accusatory remarks. "It doesn't matter Weasley, I can't play anyways; I don't have a broom."

"What, not planning to share with Harry?" Ron growled.

Draco almost retaliated but Fred jumped in. "You can borrow one of ours. Sure, it's not as good as your broom. But we're just going to play for fun, right guys?"

"I'm glad you guys have set aside your differences." Hermione praised. "Some of us could learn from the twins' behavior." She was clearly talking about Ron but he was to busy scowling.

They separated into two teams and Harry and Draco wanted to go head to head so they were both the seekers. Along with Harry was George as beater, Charlie as chaser, and Ron as goalie. On Draco's side there was Fred as beater, Bill as chaser, and Ginny as goalie. In all fairness Harry didn't use the Firebolt but a Comet 260 right along with everyone else. Hermione acted as score keeper with nothing else to do.

A half an hour into the game and the teams were tied and the snitch was still evading both seekers. Draco hadn't needed to stare at Harry thus far because they had the same broom and it was a clear day for easy seeing, everything was equal. Yet, he couldn't stop watching the magnificent flyer as he circled the clearing and occasionally twirled gracefully to avoid a well aimed bludger. Draco, being distracted by Harry, was almost knocked off his broom twice which elicited many laughs. The first time he had been thinking that Harry's hair looked incredible in the wind, he mused that someone with such wild hair is meant for the sky, meant to have air running through it, or perhaps someone's massaging fingers. The second time had been when he was gazing Harry's profile as he scanned for the snitch and had locked eyes with him and smiled the most breath taking smile Draco had ever seen.

Draco shook his head as he began to get distracted et again, this time by how memorizing Harry handled and turned his broom, he was startled then when George flew by and asked him, "Enjoy the view Malfoy?" Draco blushed and started to scan for the snitch in the opposite direction as Harry. Then he saw it, right there, hovering high up in the middle of the field. He made his move but Harry had seen it too and they were flying fast at each other. The snitch quickly shot up and the boys did so just fast and soon enough to avoid a head on collision. Higher, higher, they went, the brooms bean to vibrate from such a high altitude, this forced them to stop letting the snitch disappear.

"For a second I thought we were going to collide down there." Harry laughed boisterously as they slowly made their descent back to the other players.

"Yeah." Draco agreed with a half-smile, not sure what else to say.

Harry abruptly halted and turned to Draco, first contemplating his words then, "I've been thinking . . . about things . . .about how in first year I rejected your friendship, I know you'd never admit that it hurt you but I'm pretty sure it did, and I'm sorry. It's just that Ron was my first friend and all I knew about the wizarding world was what he had told me . . . and so, yeah. If you would like, we can be friends now." His smile was sincere and warm when he offered his hand to confirm.

Draco was ecstatic on the inside, at least half of him and this half was about to jump Harry and give him a hug, but the dark, grudging side of him was telling him to say no so that Harry would know what it felt like to be rejected. Before either of the extreme sides could act he took Harry's hand firmly and shook it with his own smile.

"I would like that very much." He couldn't hide the full extent of his happiness so he closed his eyes, which also helped him not completely attack Harry with a very tight and intimate hug. But the moment didn't last long; no sooner had their hands parted when Ron decided to show up.

"Geez mate, you've been up here a while; thought something had gone wrong." Ron fretted. "Did you catch the snitch?"

Harry just smiled in pure delight. "We're alright, and no, not yet." He gracefully flew past Ron. Draco followed shortly after giving Ron a half-hearted glare as he passed because he was still digesting the fact that he had finally gotten what he'd wanted; Harry's friendship.

Draco wasn't very attentive for the rest of the game and Harry easily caught the snitch before Draco had even realized he'd seen it. Ron made a point in telling Draco he'd lost, again, but Draco wasn't listening which only made Ron frustrated.

"What's with him? He's not fighting back." Ron grumbled as they went to wash up.

"Well maybe he's just matured." Hermione offered. "Just like Harry. Looks like you're behind."

"Am not." Ron pouted which only got him an eye roll from Hermione.

"Ronald, could you Ginny, Harry, and Hermione set the table for dinner?" Mrs. Weasley called from the kitchen.

"Sure." Ron complied. "Seems like all we do is eat." He added in a quieter tone. Hermione, Harry, and Ginny all snickered at Ron.

"And you're complaining?" Harry joked. "Usually you're always hungry." Ron frowned and then, realizing it was true shrugged his shoulders.

Fred and George smiled wickedly when they were left alone with Draco, who was still washing in the bathroom. They waited patiently at the foot of their bed. When Draco finally emerged completely freshened up they called him over.

"Draco," Fred invited.

"Come sit with us."George finished.

Draco eyed them suspiciously. "Why?"

"We just want to talk." They said in unison.

He cautiously sat in the middle of the bed in front of them. Draco stared at them and they smiled back at him. "So." Draco prompted.

"Do you need help, with Ha--" George elbowed him in the ribs. "with anything?" Fred asked slyly.

Draco was very puzzled. _What are they talking about? They don't know about my lack of money . . . _"Not that I'm aware of . . . "He answered haltingly.

Fred rolled his eyes. "Do you need help with someone?" He specified. Draco just stared at him dumbly.

"Boy, how dense are you?" George asked bluntly. "Don't think you can hide--"

"I thought we were going to let him figure it out!" Fred interrupted much like how George had interrupted him.

"Obviously his pureblood mind is in denial." George argued with his twin and, after a brief stare down, Fred looked away and crossed his arms with a humph. George smiled triumphantly. "We saw you staring at Harry during Quidditch. We also saw a fair share of times were Harry was looking at you a little too closely if you know what I mean. Also there is the fact that you two . . . fit together, you guys looked pretty comfortable sharing the same bed and all. And haven't you heard of a love/hate--"

Draco's jaw dropped. "Are you implying what I think you are?"

"I don't know, what are you thinking?" George smiled like a Cheshire cat.

"No. I don't . . . I can't . . . we're friends." Draco stuttered.

"That's how we started." Fred stated matter-of-factly.

Draco just raised an eyebrow and looked between the two hesitantly. He opened his mouth to talk but all that happened was that the door opened and Harry popped in.

"Dinner's ready." He announced. The twins grinned at Draco and left for dinner.

"Think about it Draco." They chorused.

_What have I gotten myself into? _Draco asked himself before slowly getting off the bed. _Damn summer._

* * *

**Remember I'm eventually going to change the title because I actualy have a plot now. XD**

**Yay, it's my longest chapter yet!!! XD**

**Sorry if there were errors in the last chapter I was too impatient to have my beta read it because it had been so long since I last update.**

**I was thinking about having them kiss but then I decided to postpone it because it has only been four days . . . sorry if things don't add up . . . like if they are of age they should be able to use magic outside of school . . . well not here and yeah of age should mean 17 but they aren't they are 16 and it's the summer before their sixth year just to clearify, i really didn't like the sixth book much . . . **

**WOO HOOO I got a dog, his name is Carob and he's a Catahoula Leopard I love him XD **

**I'm reposting chapter 6 because it had a lot of errors because I didn't wait to have it beta-ed T.Tu I just felt bad for making you guys wait so long.**

**Review and Comment Please XD**


	8. Chapter 8: Dares and Spooning

**Chapter 8: Dares and Spooning**

**Disclaimer: yeah, don't own characters etc.**

**OMG I am sooooooo sorry it took me so long to finish this chapter. If any of you just want to beat the shit out of me , go right ahead, I'm not going to tell you where I live, but you are welcome to hunt me down and beat me like . . . like a . . . oh make your metaphor my energy got spent doing the last chapter.**

**Please don't hate me I had a very important exam . . . and I'm lazy. I'd promise I won't be lazy again but it's crunch time for school so after June 22 I'll have more free time . . . hopefully.**

**I promise you'll love at least one part of this chapter, hopefully XD.**

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**Last Chapter**

"Do you need help, with Ha--" George elbowed him in the ribs. "with anything?" Fred asked slyly.

Draco was very puzzled. _What are they talking about? They don't know about my lack of money . . . _"Not that I'm aware of . . . "He answered haltingly.

Fred rolled his eyes. "Do you need help with someone?" He specified. Draco just stared at him dumbly.

"Boy, how dense are you?" George asked bluntly. "Don't think you can hide--"

"I thought we were going to let him figure it out!" Fred interrupted much like how George had interrupted him.

"Obviously his pureblood mind is in denial." George argued with his twin and, after a brief stare down, Fred looked away and crossed his arms with a humph. George smiled triumphantly. "We saw you staring at Harry during Quidditch. We also saw a fair share of times were Harry was looking at you a little too closely if you know what I mean. Also there is the fact that you two . . . fit together, you guys looked pretty comfortable sharing the same bed and all. And haven't you heard of a love/hate--"

Draco's jaw dropped. "Are you implying what I think you are?"

"I don't know, what are you thinking?" George smiled like a Cheshire cat.

"No. I don't . . . I can't . . . we're friends." Draco stuttered.

"That's how we started." Fred stated matter-of-factly.

Draco just raised an eyebrow and looked between the two hesitantly. He opened his mouth to talk but all that happened was that the door opened and Harry popped in.

"Dinner's ready." He announced. The twins grinned at Draco and left for dinner.

"Think about it Draco." They chorused.

_What have I gotten myself into? _Draco asked himself before slowly getting off the bed. _Damn summer._

* * *

Dinner passed fairly uneventfully, compared to all their other meals so far. The only difference was that everyone was in a cheery mood with no shortage of laughter. It was as if they had always been, as if Draco had been a part of them all along. They played games well into the night. Ginny, being the youngest, was forced to go to bed early by her mother. 

The moonlight flooded the floor of the family room as the battle between Ron and Draco neared its finality. Ron was desperately trying to hold onto his title of Wizard Chess King while Draco was struggling to stay awake. Giving in to his fatigue he yawned and stretched leisurely.

"How about we call this a draw (_even if I could probably beat you in seven or eight moves_) and start a new game tomorrow?" He suggested, giving Ron a way out of being completely slaughtered, he smiled faintly it was the first time that he had ever felt a part of something (and still got to torture the Weasley). _Well, this can't last long, good things don't last forever afterall, it'd be just my luck if I was suddenly eaten by space and time. _Draco thought sarcastically to himself, he held his hand out to signify the agreement of a draw.

Ron reluctantly shook the offered hand. Before Draco could leave Fred and George shared a wicked smile between themselves.

"Say, how about we play a round of truth or dare?" They proposed in perfect unison, scanning the occupants, taking an extra moment to stare at Draco and suggesting something that had to do with Harry with their head gestures. This caused Draco to become ever so slightly nervous.

Harry laughed, "Save it for another time you two. I'm going to bed." Draco sighed in relief.

"Definitely." They smiled and George winked at Draco.

Draco followed absently behind Harry up the many flights of stairs. _What are they getting at? _He asked himself to no end. _Wait! Crap I actually told them about the friendship, that would ruin everything if they told, they must not want to or they would have. What do they want?_ He panicked a little and didn't notice Harry stop to open the door so he walked right into his back. A tingling sensation ran through he body at the unexpected contact. He was recoiled out of his thoughts and the warm body in front of him.

Harry had also been startled by the blunder and spun around to face Draco, nearly knocking the other boy off his feet. Draco reflexively grabbed at something to prevent his fall and caught Harry's shoulders. He overcompensated in the process and ended up falling right back on Harry. As Draco is the taller of the two it put Harry in a position where hi breath traced over Draco's jaw and ear, a very sensitive spot mind you. The warmth called to Draco's unconscious awareness wanting him to stay longer but unfortunately (kind of) a growing pressure comprising of a _different_ need was more driving. He stood erect and ran past a confused Harry into the bathroom.

"Sorry. Are you okay? Yes, you?. Yeah." Harry conversated with himself the imaginary interaction. _Well, that was odd wonder what wound him up._ He shrugged it off, changing for bed and received no response when he said goodnight to Draco through the bathroom door.

The action of talking was not of on Draco's 'to-do-list' at the moment as he was quit preoccupied with . . . something else, and Harry's voice didn't help one bit. When the moment passed he moaned, _This can't be happening, _and leaned on the back of the toilet. _That doesn't mean anything, _Draco rationalized, _anyone could . . . react like that to that kind of contact. Yeah, it doesn't show anything. Right, just coincidental. What do Fred and George know anyway? _With all put in order, for now at least, he washed his hands and went to bed.

* * *

When he turned to run he was meet by his mother all bloodied and wounded and when he tried to speak to her she screamed and attempted to point behind him but she had no index finger. The scream was sharp forcing him to cover his ears and stumble backwards into the shattering dream environment his stomach tide itself into a knot right behind his belly button.

"Are you alright Draco? You screamed." Harry spoke concernedly.

"Yeah, I think it was just a bad dream." Draco answered as the dream slowly faded from his memory.

"What was it about?" Harry hid his panic because his dreams tended to mean something but could never figure them out until it was too late.

"I . . . well. . . I can't really remember it." Draco spoke as he tried to cling to the fleeing dream but failing.

"Are you going to be able to sleep?" Harry left the words unspoken, but he was offering to stay up with him.

"It's okay I'll be asleep in no time." Draco answered driving the worry out of Harry. _I never imagined Harry would ever worry about me, then again he worries about everything. _The thought made him smile inwardly.

By the morning Draco had forgotten all of the dream, he even got up early to help Mrs. Weasley cook a non-magic breakfast, even managing to make perfectly fluffy Belgian waffles. Harry was the second to wake up as everyone else was partied out. On his way downstairs he noticed a small scrap of paper hiding in a pile of dust bunnies. He picked it up and nearly destroyed t as it had burnt edges. When he turned it over there were a few words that had been scribbled hastily, 'Next week on . . . o as soo . . . ra . . .y'. Greatly puzzled he placed it in his pocket carefully in hopes he could show it to Hermione when he got the chance. He was about to continue his trek to breakfast when Ginny stepped out of her room and nearly collided with him. She mumbled an apology and ran past him. He didn't get very far before Fred and George bounded up behind him.

"So, how's it goin'?" Fred asked eerily ecstatic.

"Peac–" Harry began to answer but apparently it had been a rhetoric question because George continued it.

"You know with your new friend and all?"

Harry faltered in his step and almost took a second dive down the stairs. "What are you talking about?" He attempted to sound unsurprised but the twins had seen his slip in step.

"You bloody suck at lying." Fred bluntly stated as George expanded vaguely. "You know exctly what, or rather who, we speak of."

"Well, then that is not for me to tell you of." Harry answered just as vague and walked into the kitchen with a smile as it ended the conversation.

The twins held a frown for but fraction of a moment when they saw Draco yet again wearing something very odd, this time it was a pink apron along with being splattered with dough from head to toe.

"Mrs. Weasley I finished the waffles I think we can . . ." Draco didn't make it any further because he was silenced by the twins's unrestrained laughter.

"You're in a . . . in a . . . " George tried to speak but between gasping for air and tears of laughter he couldn't get out more than three syllables.

"I see nothing wrong with my appearance. I was simply protecting the rest of me from getting dirty." Draco defended himself knowing no one was listening.

"And how's that working out for you?" Harry questioned mockingly finding it highly ironic that everywhere but the majority of the apron was covered in dough and other ingredients.

"Peachy, now who wants some wonderful waffles before they get cold?" Draco asked matter-of-factly.

"Wow, am I dreaming or did Malfoy just offer us something?" Hermione teased.

"It must be poisoned." Ron suspected half sarcastically while stealing a look around to see if any bottles of cross-and-skull-bones was empty.

"Now Ronald, do be nice. It's not like you ever help me with breakfast." Mrs. Weasley scolded receiving a snicker from everyone.

Finally everyone was getting along, for the most part, Ron was still suspicious but Harry was just so happy it almost made him jealous. Hermione thought it was nice that Harry could be civil to his nemesis but did doubt Draco's sincerity ever so slightly but decided that, for once, she would leave him be. But that didn't mean she had to leave Draco alone.

After lunch (because nothing else happened between breakfast and lunch) she choose her time. "Hey Draco. I need to talk to you." Everyone else was busy with dishes but not them.

He nodded and followed her curious as to what she wanted. "What is it?"

Hermione got real close, causing Draco to tense up uncomfortable and but up his defenses that he hadn't used for some time; and the mask came up. She narrowed her eyes at his shift it personality, "I swear that if you intent to hurt Harry, even unintentionally, I _will_ hurt you. Got it?"

Draco was thrown by her protectiveness and let his face soften, he was envious of her relationship with Harry and saddened to think that his friends may never fully trust him. _Tsk, but I don't need them all I want is Harry. And his friendship._ "Got it."

She smiled ad backed off. "Good." As if on cue Ron and Harry walked in. Ron remembering last night, challenged Draco to another game of Wizarding Chess. Harry was glad that there may be hope for Draco to fit in when he looked at Hermione he received a seemingly knowing and victorious 'don't worry' look.

Draco proceed to rape Ron in Wizarding Chess beating him every time. He slaughter Ron's ego but never laughed at him and even considered letting him win once but instead just made the game really long and deliberately fell into some of Ron's traps.

Feeling bad (kind of) Draco called it quiets but made a very tempting offer to Ron. "How about I train you and once you get to my level we can train each other, pointing out the other's faults? Then we should challenge a two to one game, us against Severus, I've never been able to beat him."

Ron glared at Draco for a while but then actually considered it, "Sure, wait you're not going to make me do anything weird like be your slave in return, are you?"

Draco laughed, "No, although that is a nice idea, no I may be Slytherin but in this case I'm using a different trait; inflating one's ego, and because I burst your bubble I'll build it again."

"Okay then." Ron finalized.

"To think I'd make deals to help _two_ Gryffindors." Draco muttered to himself.

* * *

The majority of the week passed by quickly and nothing of particular interest happened. Although Draco had in fact dethroned Ron he was now rebuilding his confidence and improving his strategies. It was strange for a bit and then became natural for Draco and Ron to be seen together playing endless hours of chess. But if one looked closer they would notice that calculating glances Ron shot at Draco every now and then and the guarded looks from Draco would show that they weren't going to be anything more than civil acquaintances for a long time. One would also notice they never laughed and rarely smile at each other. 

Poor Draco had gone un-laughed at for only two days before the twins slipped him an experimental toffee which made Draco sprout a few extra appendages. Even Ginny, who had become more secluded, cracked a smile. Harry had spent an increasing amount of time talking to Draco late a night, they never really talked about anything of importance, usually just about the day. More than once they had fallen asleep next to each other on the couch in front of a dying fire.

It looked as if things would stay calm until the Diagon Alley trip but has anything ever gone smoothly for Harry? Yeah, no. Two days before late at night Fred and George finally got what they wanted; a game of truth or dare. They burst into Ron's room where Draco and Ron were playing chess and Hermione, Ginny, and Harry were playing cards.

"Hey Ginny mom says to go to bed." George relaid the message wanting her out of the room so they could implement their plan. Once she left they hastily shut the door. "Time to play truth or dare."

They all reluctantly agreed and gathered on one bed. The truths were always a little awkward because the majority of the room was uncomfortable with Draco's presence, this caused many to blush. As the night went on they did more dares as no one had been made to done anything too strange.

Ron had just dared, with Hermione's permission, to change one of Hermione's short skirts and a tank-top. Seeing as he had to do it he only 'humphed' at Ron once and then proceed to threaten to flash Ron if he did anything weird later, that and to see the horrified look on Ron's face.

Draco decided to truth or dare Ron back, "Truth of dare Weasel?" He was still allowed to use weasel but only in a humorous way, that is humorous to everyone.

Ron afraid to pick dare said, "Truth."

Draco smiled at this, a really creepy smile the kind that makes you hear 'Mwah ha ha ha' in the back of your head. "So how do you feel about Gra–Hermione?" He was still getting used to first names. Ron blushed and mumbled something incoherent. "What was that? Couldn't quit hear you, could you repeat that a little louder?"

Ron was redder than his hair but was forced to answer, "I like her . . . a lot!" Now Hermione and Ron wore twin blushes that threatened to burn their faces.

"You two were so blind someone had to get it out in the open." Draco exclaimed with a light laugh and proud grin.

"Yep, it was totally obvious that you two were for each other since like first year." George agreed.

"Don't worry Ron, just look at Hermione she's blushing too." Harry clapped Ron on the back encouragingly.

"Well he looks to occupied so why don't we let the lovers have moment to themselves." Fred suggested. "First let's go to a different bed." They all shifter over once bed, which happened to be Harry's bed. "Truth or dare Draco."

The look in Fred's eyes made him uneasy and he remembered the weird conversation he had with them. _Damn, well I'd rather not pick truth because I may end up saying something I don't even know yet. _"Dare."

Fred smiled mischievously. "Well, well, well, a dare you say. What shall I have you do? Let's make it interesting." He pretended to think about it but it was clear he already knew what he wanted to say. _He planned this didn't he? _Draco thought incredulously to himself. "You've seen Harry's muscles through his Quidditch uniform, how about up close. Take off his shirt."

"What!" Draco and Harry yelled, clearly shocked but even as Draco protested the 'wrongness' of it his hands crept to the hem of Harry's shirt. You see the wizarding world's version of truth or dare as one important difference from that of the way muggles play, that is the one being asked _has_ to tell the truth and _has_ the complete the dare. The truth will be the absolute truth whether you were aware that what you say was the truth before hand or not.

"Stop your pussy-footing and get on with it, it's not like you haven't seen another male torso before." George goaded. Harry gave Draco a sympathetic look saying 'just get it over with'.

Ron and Hermione had decided that they didn't need much 'alone time' and if they did they could do it later. With that decided, along with that they would start dating which took several minutes for Ron to ask her coherently, they rejoined the group (hee, hee, and side note: there are curtains around the beds, so they can't see what Harry and Draco are doing, and they didn't hear them because . . . they just didn't . . .).

"Hey Ha–" Ron was about to announce that he and Hermione were together but was stopped by the sight before them.

Draco was staring intently past Harry as his hands rested tenderly on the boys hips as he began to slide the shirt off. He lifted slowly to reveal a dark path of hair and Harry's belly button surrounded by Quidditch tone abs. Draco swallowed hard trying not to give in and look knowing that they would in fact be very tone. Ron had by now lost his jaw and Hermione was averting her eyes, neither moving an inch while Fred and George, unnoticed, grinned. Draco's hands continued to trace over Harry's smooth and slightly tan skin exposing the rest of Harry's perfectly tone torso Draco had lost his battle and was now watching Harry's chest rise and fall as he breathed. He had to tear his eyes away to slowly but carefully pull the shirt over his head without knocking his glasses off. Their eyes meet briefly, Draco turned away with no expression when Harry smiled.

The silence was broken when Harry noticed Ron staring in disbelief. "It was a dare mate." He explained nonchalantly.

"Right." Ron sat down next to the now half naked Harry with Hermione, still not looking at Harry, to his right.

Draco, wanting revenge and an answer, he asked George, "Truth or dare." Happy for the challenge George choose dare.

"Show me what you meant when you said 'that's how we started', what did you become?" Draco smiled triumphantly as the twins blushed and paled slightly at the same time somehow.

"Um, do you even know what we meant?" Fred asked lightly."

"Well, no not really, that's why I dared him to show me." Draco answered feeling like he had missed something important.

"Well, it's, our family doesn't know." George started. "Yeah, Ron, whatever you see please don't tell mom." Fred finished as he began to face his brother and inch forward.

"What do yo–" Ron began and was once more cut off by the scene in front of him.

That is, George had softly cupped Fred's jaw with his right hand while sensually sliding his left hand up Fred's thigh, tracing his hip bone on his way to claim his ass eliciting the smallest of moans from the boy beneath the touch arousing a groan of pleasure from George. They captured each other's eyes, Fred were pleading for more and George's burned with the desire to comply. Fred leaned into his brother's touch and their lips meet with a burning passion. Their tongues battled for dominance for an eternity as George's hands claimed the other boy's body, that is, until George won and they parted panting heavily. The display of passion had created a pleading erection for both of them. Without a thought to the group they gracefully rushed off to the bathroom with a grin.

"Ah, yeah, maybe we should call it a night." Hermione offered with a furious blush that threatened to become permanent. Ron just sat there with his jaw hanging slack mirrored by Harry and Draco. _Wasn't expecting that. _Draco thought stunned.

They were beginning to recover from the shock when a voice emitted from the bathroom. "Don't even _think _about stopping the game." There was a hint of desired revenge or perhaps a different kind of desire. _That doesn't sound to good for me. _Draco thought anxiously.

"When did he say that?" Harry whispered.

"Oh, ah, a few days ago, they know about the thing, I think." Draco replied is a similar hushed whisper.

After a few minutes of awkward silence on Harry, Draco, Ron and Hermione's part the twins emerged from the bathroom disheveled with clean hands. "Oh the game is on." They promised in deathly unison. The twins had devised yet another plan for Draco, so instead of asking him first they picked someone else.

An hour had passed with not a trace of any more "risque" dares only childish truths and seven-year-old dares. It was nearly midnight when they succeeded in constructing a false sense of security around Draco. It was time to strike.

It was Fred, "Truth or dare, Draco?" Predictably Draco answered dare.

"As it is nearly tomorrow it is probably a good time to go to bed so," _This doesn't sound good. _Draco's mind interjected. "As the final dare of the night you Draco must sleep _all night_ spooning with Harry_ only _wearing boxers or whatever it is you are wearing under that skirt." By the end Fred and George were smiling from ear to ear.

Draco nearly twitched with anxiety right out of his skin. But there was no way out of it so before they could start stripping Hermione quickly said he goodnights and kissed Ron on the cheeck before leaving the room. Fred and George bounded off to their bed smiling broadly. Ron just kind of shiddered before turning the lights off and going to bed. Leaving Harry and Draco staring at each other in the dark.

"Think of it this way." Harry reasoned trying to make it less . . . weird. "It's only eight hours until breakfast but technically night ends when the sun rises which is earlier so . . . " Draco just rolled his eyes, trying not to think about 'spooning'. He tried to strip as fast as possible and jump in bed but Harry stopped him.

"Uhm how do you want to do this?" Harry asked trying not to stare at Draco's perfectly smooth tone chest that seemed to glow in the moonlight. _What a gentleman. _Draco remarked sarcastically to himself (he can recover his composure fast . . . he is not and will not be a blubbering blind to love . . . okay he is a little bit but forget that . . . yeah. He is in control man.).

"I suppose it'll just happen because of the rules and all." Draco stated blankly. They stared at each other for no purpose really for a few seconds. "Well, let's get this over with."

They both slid in hesitantly and turned toward each other at the same exact time causing them to smack noses eliciting a groan of pain from both boys which was followed by a not so well hidden snicker from the twins, they laid on their backs holding their noses.

"You okay?" Harry asked Draco muffled a 'yeah just peachy keen'.

This time they turned toward each other with caution especially since a cloud had decided to block the moonlight.

"Where are you?" Harry whispered (he took off his glasses when he took off his pants).

"Right here, oh damnit. I'm right," Draco grabbed Harry's hand, "here." He finished by placing said hand on his head which turned out to be only a few inches away.

"Oh, okay so uh, you want to be in front or in back?" Harry asked which drew another chortle from the twins, who hadn't tried hard, if at all, to cover the sound.

"Do you have a prefrence?" Draco asked oddly.

"No." Harry whispered back.

Draco really didn't want to chose but decided that he'd rather not have his neck be breathed on, again, all night so, "I'll be in back". This ellicited a full fledge burst of laughter from the twins, the innuendos were completely lost on the speakers leaving them confused.

With all decided on positions Harry rolled onto his side and scooted back into th warmth of Draco's body and was surprised when Draco's knees suddenly alined with the backs of his and pushed them up, all the while they keeping in constant contact. Harry heard Draco's breath hitch in surprise. _Guess he didn't know that was part of spooning, how do I even know how to spoon? _Harry choose not to think and resolved to go to sleep as soon as possible. Right when he was adjusting to find a perfect fit Draco drew his torso away, letting in some cold air causing Harry to shiver, this was soon remedied when he slid his arm beneath Harry's head and wrapped the other around his chest almost protectively. Harry only noticed the enveloping warmth and they were both soon sound asleep.

It seemed they were perfectly in tuned with each other, or it could have been the sun glaring at them, either way they woke up at the same moment but surprisingly in a new position. Harry's head had been nestled in the crook of Draco's neck but was now faced at Draco. Deep pools of emerald green stared into shining cool metal grey eyes, it took them a couple blinks before they realized they were staring which spurred them to jump out of bed and throw their clothes on before running down to breakfast without words.

Right on entering the kitchen Fred spoke, "Guess tehy liked the dare, it's almost ten o'clock." Ginny flashed him an unseen questioning glare before glancing out the window.

"Are you wai--" Hermione tried asking Ginny but the girl got up and left before she could finish.

The rest of breakfast entailed Fred and George making fun of Ron when Hermione left to read outside and antagonizing Harry and Draco. They were about to disperse and start doing chores when a magnificent eagle hawk (or hawk eagle or whatever is the name of a cool big bird) swooped in and dropped an unmarked box in front of Draco.

"Draco should you really--" Harry started, implying that it could be dangerous seeing as no one knew, rather no one was suppose to know, that Draco was here.

"It'll be fine. No one knows I'm here." Draco replied confidently. He carefully opened teh box to find it full of shreded paper. Not stopping to wonder if that was weird he shoved a searching hand into the paper. He made contact with something soft but slightly wrinkly and very cold when he felt a familiar knot and then . . . . ._ Shit._

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**Cliffhanger. I cry at myself: first I don't update in more than a month and then I leave you all with a big ass cliffhanger . . . that is unless to figured it out.**

**I really want to know what you readers think is going to happen please tell me XD then I'll know if I should be more detailed.**

**This hasn't been beta-ed yet because I've made you wait long enough I will update it though.**

**Again I'm sooooooooooooooo sorry for leaving you guys to dry for over a month I feel really really really bad**

**If I can do anything to redeem myself tell me XD**

**I'm such a whore for reviews heh, heh.**

**I still haven't thought of a better title but I will tell you a chapter before I change it.**


	9. Chapter 9: Brooding and Angst

**Chapter 9: **

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the characters, just the plot. This ****fanfic**** will have slash, how detailed it will be I don't quite know yet . . . also it disregards the sixth book.**

**OMG I'M STILL ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Amazing, I know. Well before anyone has the urge to kill me in a brutal way because you were just dying to read my story (I would love you if you actually cared that much) I ****must ****apologize profusely. My laziness (not to mention my loss of motivation after reading the seventh book) consumed me and then school started. **

**Don't worry I WON'T include any details or use any events from the seventh book. **

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**Last chapter:**

The rest of breakfast entailed Fred and George making fun of Ron when Hermione left to read outside and antagonizing Harry and Draco. They were about to disperse and start doing chores when a magnificent eagle hawk (or hawk eagle or whatever) swooped in and dropped an unmarked box in front of Draco before exiting majestically.

"Draco should you really--" Harry started, implying that it could be dangerous seeing as no one knew, or rather no one was suppose to know that Draco was here.

"It'll be fine. No one knows I'm here." Draco replied confidently. He carefully opened the box to find it full of shredded paper. Not stopping to wonder if that was weird he shoved a searching hand in the paper. He made contact with something soft but slightly wrinkly and very cold when he felt a familiar knot and then . . . . . _Shit._

* * *

He was gone and all hell broke loose. 

"That snaky bastard!!" Ron shouted. "I knew he had some kind of dark plan! I can't believe you trusted him Harry! What were you thinking?"

Harry had just been sitting in shock, still processing what had happened. All he could do was to stare at the now vacant seat across from him. Reality seemed to fall from under his feet as the improbable just happened, and he was suddenly alone. His senses and mind just shut down.

The room became dead silent as they all waited for Harry to speak or do anything to show that he was aware of what had just happened. Hermione was worried that Malfoy had just caused Harry unspeakable anguish so she tried to make him realize what had happened. Her voice was strained as she spoke, "Harry, he lied—"

"Shut up Hermione! He _didn't_ lie and he _didn't_ have any sort of "dark plan"! He's—" Harry snapped shooting both his friends with the gravest of stares. "I have to find him." With that he stormed out of the room not wasting another moment. "Before it's too late." He mumbled under his breath.

"The ferret's brainwashed him!" Ron yelled in disbelief. No one else dared to say anything as the atmosphere was so full a tension. Everyone was caught off guard by the severity of Harry's reaction. Hermione was fixedly staring on the wall trying not to burst out in tears, confused as to why Harry had blown up at her; she hadn't done anything wrong. Unable to control herself any longer she let the tears stream down her face as she exploded into sobs and ran upstairs. Fred and George calmly stood up.

"We'll tell mum and dad. Why don't you go and stop Harry from doing something rash. Or is that too much to ask?"

Ron was startled by the sneer in their voices, they were being serious. "Hey I'm not the one who did anything wrong." He snidely retorted.

"Neither is Harry." Fred responded smoothly sending Ron on a guilt trip before he left the kitchen with George.

"Tch, whatever." Ron muttered to himself as he drug his feet up all the flights of stairs to his room. As he passed by Ginny's room he could hear Hermione sobbing uncontrollably which fueled his anger at Harry's blindness of Malfoy's sneakiness. Although, he still managed to open his door calmly and not yell at Harry, yet.

Harry didn't need to say anything his face said it all: "What do you want now?" It was only a fleeting look as Harry was hastily shoving all his belongings, the few items that he truly owned and cared about, into his trunk. The look made Ron feel sheepish.

"How could you make Hermione cry?" Ron finally decided to ask, it was a cope out of a question to fill the prolonged silence, and they both knew it.

"I didn't _make_ her do anything. She's the one who insulted Draco. And don't even play knight-in-shining-armor, you've made her cry more than me so get off you high horse and leave me alone." Harry shot venomously.

Ron was losing his cool that had surprising not evaporated yet. "Merlin! Can't you see what Malfoy's done to us? He's tearing us apart." This accusation hung heavily in the air and forced Harry to pay attention, halting his actions but nothing more, Harry simple stood staring intently and the mostly full trunk, eyes downcast in concentration. "To everyone it looks like you're choosing him over us. Are you?"

"Heh, maybe I am." Harry wondered aloud, finally stating what he already knew. "What about it if I am? He needs me right now more than you or Hermione do." Ron looked at him hopelessly pleading for an explanation. "What am I saying this for; you couldn't possibly understand. You don't know—" He couldn't say it, he couldn't tell Ron, he didn't have the right. His shoulders slumped forward with the inability to tell Ron the full truth.

"What am I not seeing?" Ron asked completely baffled. For the first time upon Ron's entrance Harry meet his eyes with a blazing determination that were shadowed by a flicker of sadness before he lowered his eyes once more leaving the question unanswered. He slowly closed and latched the fully packed trunk. "Hermione's usually the voice of reason but think about it. What can you do anyways? You don't even know where he is; let alone where he could be."

_Maybe, maybe not._ Harry solemnly thought. "I suppose you're right." _I guess I should apologiz__e, even if I don't mean it at this particular moment. Then at least they won't be bothered or worried that __I'm acting strangely or being brainwashed. _He tried a weak smile which satisfied Ron's anxiety as it was some sign of improvement, even a twitch of Harry's lip would have calmed Ron as it would have been a sign of being aware.

The quick change in Harry's tone was unsettling but Ron decided it was good enough for the time being. "It's okay mate." He reassured in an awkward attempt at sounding cheerful before hitting on a more serious note. "But you should apologize to Hermione." Harry nodded apathetically and got up to commence the arduous job of apologizing.

After Harry left the room Ron sighed and collapsed onto his bed. "Geez, school hasn't even started and trouble's already starting. I suppose it's what's to be expected when Harry's around." He reflected to himself.

Harry walked down to Ginny's room hoping Hermione would be there and there weren't many other places she could hide despite the enormous size of the disorderly house. Half a flight away and he could hear the raucous crying. _Yep, she's definitely in there._ He softly rapped on the door before he cracked the door and slipped inside. Ginny immediately assailed him with a death glare.

"Could I speak to Hermione for a second? Alone." Harry asked in a whisper barely audible over the crying.

"Do try not to make her cry." Ginny sneered as she stalked out of the room.

He walked cautiously over to where she was sitting on her bed, carefully sitting down next to her. "Look, 'mione, I—I'm sorry I shouted at you. It's just; you can't throw around such serious accusations like you know all the facts." His voice began to sound agitated and sensing that it wouldn't help the situation he slowed down and took a deep breath.

"B-b-but h-he lied t-to you." Hermione managed to say between sobs and hiccups. "He was trying to-to hurt you. I was trying to save you from—"

Harry's face became was painted with disgust but lowered his face to regain control over the situation. "I'll say it one last time: He didn't lie to me. How can you possible believe that drivel?" He seethed almost in a whisper. "Him, hurt me? The only one who hurt me was you with your brainwashed and prejudiced words. I thought of all people you would understand and give people a second chance." Hermione looked imploringly at the side of his head unable to see the expression on his face she turned away biting back another wave of tears. "And as for saving me, from what? What do I so desperately need saving from that would require your bull shit accusations?" At such strong language Hermione was left shocked by his words. But Harry still would not face her. "Just forget it, I'm sorry." He gave her the same weak half smile he had given Ron mere minutes before and leaned forward planning to leave. "It's been a crazy summer."

Before he could walk away she managed to draw enough strength to say but one phrase in answer. "No, I'll answer: From yourself." The only evidence she had been crying were her bloodshot puffy red eyes as she fled the room.

Harry stared after her dumbfounded by her reply. _What the bloody hell is that suppose to mean?_ He thought shrewdly. _Screw today I'm going back to bed._ When he made his way back to Ron's room he wasn't there. _Hope he didn't hear my "apologizing" to Hermione._ He looked over at Draco's disheveled bed with half its sheets strewn across the floor. It wasn't surprising as they had practically flown out of bed that very morning to get to breakfast before all the food as eaten. He smiled to himself thinking how funny they must have looked frantically untangling themselves from the sheets to dress. He sat on Draco's side and spotted the Hogwarts cloak that Draco had been wearing in the park that day. Harry picked it up and wondered if maybe it still smelled like him, freshly laundered and rolled in dirt along with a hint of vanilla. It never occurred to him that smelling it would be weird as he had become to accustomed to the smell since they were first crammed into the broom closet so he didn't hesitate as he brought the wrinkled and dirtied cloak to his nose. _Yep, still smells like him. _

To busy himself he picked up Draco's clothes or rather the clothes of Harry that Mrs. Weasley had modified and stored them in his chest on top of his invisibility cloak. Harry stared at Draco's bed absentmindedly before he flopped down face first onto the pillow. He was exhausted, things had seemed as though they had changed. But what was really all that different; Draco? Or was it Ron and Hermione who had changed or perhaps it was Harry who had changed. He slowly scanned Ron's room; it was exactly the same. He thought in circles and found to satisfying conclusion, his frustration was augmented by the dimming sky and the seeming quickening of time and wound him so tight that he couldn't bear lying still and instead fetched his broom to fly.

He was about to open the bedroom door to leave but decided he'd rather not be seen or have to deal with people so he opted to exit through the window. It didn't appear it would be that easy to leave. Ginny had apparently guessed Harry would try to leave and do something rash and was waiting on the front lawn tapping her foot agitated.

"And where do you think you're going?" She huffed in a most Mrs. Weasley like fashion.

Harry stopped his broom but didn't make any other movement to indicate he was going to descend. "You can't stop me from going Ginny, so cut the stalling and just let me go."

"What do you expect to do? Just wait, see what happens, you can't do anything by yourself. You don't even know where to go!" Ginny spat vehemently.

Harry was surprised by her tone and it angered him he was about to snap a nasty retort when Ginny began to sob. _Do I make them cry or what!?_ Harry sarcastically thought and was on the verge of leaving when she spoke again.

"Harry you can't leave us. You're a part of the family. Let someone else worry over Malfoy." She sobbed nearly incoherently.

Harry couldn't take it anymore; all the crying and they kept making him feel so selfish and useless. _I suppose they're right._ Harry dropped his head and slowly drifted back to the house without giving Ginny a second look.

Harry confined himself to the bedroom and slept the rest of the day away. Not even Mrs. Weasley could lure him out for food. He just laid there staring blankly at the ceiling brooding and sometimes he looked out the window but nothing dared to cross his mind in case it might bother him. His silence was broken when Ron came up for bed.

Ron awkwardly entered the room unsure of how to act around Harry as not to set him off. "So, uh, Fred and George went back to their room because Charlie and Bill left." He paused to check if Harry had made any sign of having heard him, or at even a sign of being alive; seeing none he continued. "Mum wanted me to remind you that tomorrow we're going to Diagon Alley to get school stuff. Oh and we are going by portkey."

"What!" Harry frantically inquired. Ron nearly had a heart attack at the sudden liveliness of Harry's response. He clutched his lungs attempting to regulate his breathing and stabilize his heart beat. "Draco just disappeared! With a portkey. That was sent to your house." Ron stared blankly showing not a hint of comprehension, clearly missing what Harry's point was. "That no one was supposed to know that he was staying at." The same dumbstruck look was plastered on Ron's face showing no signs of leaving. Harry rolled his eyes in frustration even though he found it suiting that Ron had no idea what was going on, just as usual. "Wouldn't it be unwise to go out now?" A few seconds later and the lights finally went on in Ron's head.

Don't be silly Harry. While you were up here we talked to Dumbledore and he said that whoever sent it was probably just after Malfoy. If you ask me it was probably Mr. Malfoy, worried sick about his perfect Slytherin son lost in the scary world of lowly poor wizards." Ron feigned worry mock acting Mr. Malfoy's reaction of fainting in turmoil at the disappearance of his most beloved only son.

"Doubt it." Harry whispered under his breath. harry became quiet just as fast as he had started to talk. Ron decided against asking him anymore questions and instead said goodnight and changed for bed leaving Harry, yet again, to brood by himself.

* * *

Harry slept fitfully in the expansive bed his mind was recuperating from the taxing day and was peacefully blank until an ethereal voice penetrated his head. Unbeknownst to Harry himself, he winced and cringed in his sleep, twisting the sheets in a death grip. He was plunged into icy coldness and was paralyzed by the now screeching tone filling his unknown dream. Harry struggled to breath, he was gasping for the seemingly unattainable air begging it to enter his lungs. Suddenly a rush of air flooded his lunges and he was awake. His sleep ridden mind clouded his thought as he tried to make sense of what had happened in the dream. But he could no longer remember anything but a faint whisper in a desperate tone. As he became more lucid he noticed it was still dark outside and Ron was snoring loudly in his own bed. Left with a disconcerting felling he rustled in his sheets to fall back asleep. He could only manage to close his eyes as a nagging sensation constricted his lungs and knotted his stomach until he faded back into the oblivion of sleep.

As the sun rose its blinding light awoke Harry from his sleep. He sat up with only the sick feeling one has when they haven't eaten in a while and not a memory of his disturbing dream of the subsequent feelings of concern. He jumped out of bed ready to get the trip to Diagon Alley over with as fast as possible. Noticing Ron who was still deep in sleep looked all to vulnerable Harry could't resist but to throw a pillow at the unsuspecting boy. He pelted the pillow and ducked behind the bed snickering. When nothing happened he cautiously stood up and saw that Ron was still fast asleep. _How hard does he sleep?_ He was about to find out by shouting in Ron's ear but was thwarted when for no apparent reason Ron woke up.

"Gu' morning." Ron greeted groggily."Why are you staring at me."

Harry frowned but answered. "Nothing." Harry hastily changed and took the stairs in twos so as to reach the kitchen all the quicker. On entering said room he saw Mrs. Weasley preparing breakfast as usual, with pots flying every which direction.

"Oh, hello Harry. Did Ron tell you we are taking a portkey to Diagon Alley today?" She asked in an even tone.

"Yeah." Harry responded expressing his dislike of the idea with an impressive scoff illiciting an odd look from Mrs. Weasley. "What time are we leaving?"

"Right after breakfast." She answered automatically.

As the remaining Weasley children and Hermione filed in for breakfast the tension was thick. Hermione was still hurt by Harry's words and refused to even look at him, not that he went out on a limb to get her attention. Harry scarfed down his food and impatiently waited for the rest of them to finish eating all the while he was incessantly tapping his foot on the ground creating a rapid high-pitched _tap-tap-tap_ which drove Hermione mad but she refused to react, not wanting another confrontation.

When they still hadn't left after breakfast Harry couldn't wait any longer and with as much patience he could force in his words he asked, "What are we waiting for?"

Having expected the question Mrs. Weasley sighed, "We are waiting for Arthur to arrive with the portkey--oh look here he comes." Just then green flames shot up in the fireplace and a rumpled Mr. Weasley walked out holding a ratty old cap, which Harry took to be the portkey.

"Are you all ready?" Mr. Weasley cheerfully inquired as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny just stood there making no response. "Well then, let's just step into the backyard and in a few minutes we'll be off." He made his way toward the back door when Harry interrupted.

"Wait, is it just us? They aren't sending anyone to escort us? Isn't it danger--" Harry tried.

"It'll be alright m'boy. the Order doesn't think you're in any immediate danger at the moment." Arthur assured.

Harry just gapped at the back of Mr. Weasley's head as they all began to make their way outside. Once they were situated in a tight circle around the cap Mr. Weasley counted down. "18 seconds, everyone grab a part of the cap. . . That's it . . .8 seconds now . . . . 3, 2, 1."

A quick jerk behind the navel and they were transported into the middle of a bustling Diagon Alley just in front of Gringotts.

"We'll meet back here say 12 o'clock. That gives you more than enough time to finish you're shopping and roam the town." Mr. Weasley suggested brightly. "I'll take Ginny to get her books first." With that the two disappeared into the crowd.

Harry turned on his heels and went to but supplies to restock his potions kit. Ron and Hermione instinctively trailed behind him. Making there way from store to store quickly and only going to places that they needed to get something. This hasty fashion of school shopping allowed them to be done with plenty of extra time. Hermione couldn't stand it anymore.

"Can't we rest for a minute Harry? Why are you in such a rush?" She burst out frustrated.

Harry stood as if he had been slapped in the face; they had been walking the entire time in silence he had almost forgotten that they were with him. He distractedly responded, "Oh, sorry."

Hermione huffed at his lack of consideration and sat down at a nearby table at the ice cream shop. "Harry," Hermione looked at Harry seriously catching his full attention. "Why are you in such a hurry, if you trust Malfoy so much then you can't think he'd betray you." She ended with a scornful and mocking tone.

Harry glared at her venomously. "I just have a bad feeling."

Having sufficiently answered, Ron and Hermione silently ate their ice cream. Wanting to say anything that would break the quiet that seemed to be plaguing them Ron offered a hopeful note, "Don't worry so much Harry. Everything turns out in the end, right?" Harry dawned a smile that didn't quit reach his eyes. _Whatever you say._ Harry thought to himself.

"How 'bout we go visit the broom shop." Hermione tried to get a smile out of Harry instead he became void of any expression and merely shrugged his shoulders in agreement.

"I suppose I should restock my broom maintenance kit." Harry dryly added.

As they made their way it suddenly became overcast and it began to drizzle. "Odd weather.' Hermione stated in genuine curiosity. "It got really cold all of a sudden." The more they walked the darker it seemed to get.

"Something doesn't--" Harry began when a terrible shriek emitted from the nearby ally.

* * *

**Not a very enticing cliffhanger but yeah I hope no one is too angry at me . . . heh heh.**

**I lost a dollar in a bet saying I could post this by the end of October. Oh well, it's up now.**

**Please review pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.**


	10. Chapter 10: Noting and Repression

**Chapter 10: Noting and Repression**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the characters, just the plot. This fanfic will have slash, how detailed it will be I don't quite know yet . . . also it disregards the sixth book.**

**Wow, just realized I was going to change the title when I posted chapter 8, yeah well I suppose that won't happen now I am satisfied with the title . . . I apologize for the mistakes my beta Ibrium has been busy . . . and so have I—hence the reason I shitty at updating as frequently as I used to.**

**Sorry there aren't as many innuendos.**

**Still lovin' all of the reviews XD**

* * *

**Last chapter:**

As they made their way it suddenly became overcast and it began to drizzle. "Odd weather." Hermione stated in genuine curiosity. "It got really cold all of a sudden." The more they walked the darker it seemed to get.

"Something doesn't—" Harry began when a terrible shriek emitted from the nearby ally.

* * *

Just as it so happened, nobody else happened to be occupying the street other than them. The blood curdling screams seemed to only be heard by them. They exchanged confused and adrenaline rushed looks before they reacted. 

The screams faded into gurgling gasps as the trio rushed to find the source and what meet their unsuspecting eyes was a worse scene than any of them could have ever imagined. Ginny was pinned against the wall by two Death Eaters, she was struggling weakly, her underwear was pulled down to her ankles and a third Death Eater was closing in on her writhing body. Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched in utter horror at the scene before them as they clattered to a loud and conspicuous stop which, not so surprisingly, caught the attention of the third Death Eater.

"Well, well. It appears our little trap seems to have succeeded. You didn't come as fast as we expected," The Death Eater shrugged without a grudge. "But no complaints from us, we had some fun," he smirked as he nodded toward Ginny's battered body. "Right boys?" The voice behind the mask cackled with sadistic glee. "What? Cat got your tongue Hero-boy?" He spat the last two words with a biting tone.

"Your beloved Draco said you'd put up more of a fight. Where's all your spirit Potter?" One of the masked men that was holding Ginny's arm taunted mockingly. "Oops." He dawned a false look of surprise and anguish. "You didn't know Draco was the one who told us everything? Are your feelings hurt Potter?" He asked in a patronizing sort of voice. The hysterical laughter of the three Death Eaters ricocheted off the bricks of the alley walls around them, amplifying their amusement into shrill noises that burned at Harry's intestines.

"He wouldn't do that." Harry breathed; he was shaking in rage as he whipped out his wand and pointed it directly at the first Death Eater's heart. "Don't lie to me!!!" He demanded vehemently, staring the Death Eater head on meeting him eye to eye.

"Oh, is Potter in denial?" The Death Eater sneered in mocking sympathy. "Don't fool yourself kid, you couldn't kill me, let alone harm me. You're too _good_." He elongated the word 'good' taking longer than necessary to say it, attacking Harry's "goodness" and drilling it into his head that it is his biggest weakness. "All I have to do is tell you I'm on your side." The Death Eaters once again joined in cacophonic laughter that lashed at Harry.

"TAKE IT BACK!!!" Harry exclaimed in a deafening roar of wrath, his eyes shut in an attempt to force such a demand upon the Death Eater solely with the pure strength of will. His wand pulsated angrily in his hand as if it was experiencing the very thoughts and emotions that were coursing through every fiber of his body: anger, anguish, murderous hate, and desperation. Without a second thought or emotion, it shot off the most fantastical sight; the very fabric of time seemed to have been permeated as the entirety of the universe slowed, allowing mere seconds to stretch out to its own infinity. A streaming bolt burst forth as his mind broke; the lightening magic was a blinding phosphorescent green color, telling of the unadulterated hatred Harry possessed with untold immensity. Not but a millisecond later two streams of blazing ice cold fire swirled around the bolt. The atmosphere became frigid and everyone was paralyzed by the intense magic. As the man watched, the magic approach him, his face contorting into a physical manifestation of an absolute feeling of terror. Harry witnessed the Death Eater's last pitiful gasp of breath that appeared as mist that looked as if it possessed his very soul colored with a fear greater than any other sentient being had ever known. As time resumed its normal course the Death Eater didn't even have time for a heart-wrenching, skull-splitting shriek before the flaming bolt struck his sternum and enveloped his body with white-hot, searing flames. The man writhed in unfathomable pain as he fell limply to his knees before finally dropping to the ground, in the processes shattering the mask and twisting his neck so that the soulless face stared unseeing at Harry, before the dust settled an audible crunch emanated throughout the alley as every bone in his body fractured or broke. His now exposed face was an ashen shade of death and his face wore a permanent look of terror focused in the black holes that had once bore eyes. Harry was breathing heavily and rapidly, almost at the point of hyperventilating as he slowly lowered his wand.

The remaining two Death Eaters closed their gaping mouths and fled before they had the chance to find out if they would be killed too. Ginny was left to slide down the wall, collapsing into a heap of limbs onto the dingy, littered alley floor. Hermione stared dumbfounded at Harry, utterly speechless as Ron immediately rushed to his sister's side. He unsuccessfully chocked back his tears of sadness and anger as he delicately maneuvered Ginny so that she leant against his shoulders as he pulled up her underwear. He then gently placed her back against the wall as he retrieved her pants that were strewn just a few feet away, all the while wiping the tears that were silently streaming down his face unseen by his two friends. He laboriously bent over to pick them up and shuffled like a zombie back to his sister to dress her so she might be able to regain any shred of dignity.

"What have you done Harry?" Hermione whispered in a cracked voice, she looked desperately at Harry, searching his eyes for a hint or clue that would place the murder on someone or something else; she found nothing, nothing at all, the once vibrant green eyes seemed to swirl with uncertainty as if the light behind them had been turned off and the pigments in his irises didn't know how to appear. She slowly collapsed to her knees, staring at the ground searching through her mind for a rational explanation for what Harry had done but her eyes just kept twitching, blindly scanning the ground until Harry began to speak.

Harry looked at her completely numb, as if he didn't even have control of his movements or words and unaware of the eerie tone that laced his response. "A lot of things happen that weren't suppose to, get used to it because just in case you haven't noticed but shitty things like this tend to happen to me all the time." His gaze at her faded as he turned his attention to his hand. He stared at it disinterestedly, as if it wasn't even his own before he shoved his wand back into his jean pocket.

"But—you've never _killed_ anyone before." Hermione spoke in a quite undertone; she seemed to breathe the word 'killed' as if it was cursed, afraid of the implications, afraid that having said it aloud would make her accept the fact and make it real; the fact that Harry had killed the Death Eater.

"Would you rather have had me let Ginny get—get hurt?" He asked darkly in a 'what the hell are you thinking' kind of tone as he walked away from her toward Ron and his now unconscious sister. He then addressed Ron, "Let's get her to your Dad and to a hospital, she's pretty beat up." Ron nodded as Harry lifted the small, cold body off the alley floor. He and Ron walked at a fast pace to get as far away from that place as quickly as possible when Hermione, who hadn't moved an inch since her collapse, jerkily rose the her feet and locked eyes with Harry.

"I _**told**_ you Malfoy would betray you! You had no reason to trust him!" She exclaimed poisonously, her face on the threshold of looking entirely deranged. "I am the smart one. Why don't you listen to me and not just when I'm giving you the answers to homework?" Something seemed to be clawing with anger just below the surface of her skin, dying to get out as she gazed determinedly and desperately at Harry.

"This is neither the time nor the place to discuss such matters." Harry spoke clearly and calmly without a single emotion or inflection present in his voice that could betray what he was thinking and feeling. Such irrevocable ignorance left Hermione gaping at his back as he walked away from her, such blatant rejection made her feel empty. She silently followed them as they once again seemed to enter the land of the living where they were again surrounded by the familiar sounds of the populated Diagon Alley. They paid no attention to anyone and no one paid any attention to them as they slid their way through the crowd in search of Mr. Weasely.

Ron kept mumbling incoherently to himself, mulling over how this could have happened to his sister and where in the world his dad could have been. Hermione lagged behind them appearing to be a wispy shadow in the wind, barely managing to keep up with her acquaintances she was still wounded from Harry's ignorance of her, treating her like an annoyance that didn't know what was going on.

"Hey, mate," Ron looked glaringly ahead of him not wanting to face Harry, afraid that the pure unadulterated hate that was etched onto his face would scare him. "The next time I see Malfoy I'm gonna kill him." There was no emphasis on any syllable; it was a promise. The words were like shards of dry ice, each delicately piercing Harry's spinal cord, sending a deep chill the penetrated him to the very marrow of his bones and reaching every end of his being with sharp pangs of arctic bursts. Harry knew it was not the time to contradict or reason with Ron and instead opted to remain silent and stare intently at the path before him.

Hours seemed to drudge past them as their silent search for Mr. Weasely continued the crowd melted into one entity that moved around them unseeing. Even the buildings blurred around them and failed to help them in their search as in their desperation they began to forget to think making all the buildings look the same. Ginny even regained consciousness and even managed to walk on her own. This considerably slowed down their search as not only was she injured but she insisted on clutching onto Ron's around his waist hiding her face in his side. They eventually found Mr. Weasely standing unsuspectingly in front of Gringotts.

"It's 2 o'clock, where have you three been? Oh, Ginny, you're with them! Thank Merlin, I was wondering where you had wandered off to." Mr. Weasely cheerily remarked patting Harry on the shoulder. Then, upon noticing their grave expressions he dawned questioning eyes toward them. "What's wrong Ginny?" He finally inquired as she was still hiding her face in Ron's side.

Tears welled in her eyes as she ran and desperately hugged her father with such force that it was if she was attempting to disappear from the world so that she would never have to remember what had happened and wouldn't have to feel such inner turmoil and despair because of it. He protectively hugged her back. "What is going on?" He queried further, finally adopting a serious tone.

"She got—beat up and—well; they roughed her up real bad." Harry answered in a depressed manner as he knew she would never be able to get her innocence back no matter what and he wondered if she would ever be able to return to her previously bright demeanor.

"Yeah, and it was all thanks to _M_alfoy and his big fat _D_eath Eater mouth who snitched to his fellow _D_eath Eaters and his _D_addy so that they could plan a nice little trap for us." Ron venomously added, biting the first syllable of 'Malfoy' and 'Death' and 'Daddy' attempting to strike the fact home to Harry that Draco was a betraying, back-stabbing, good-for-nothing, piece of low-life trash that should die a most horrible death, or rather that he should be tortured and sent to Azkaban to suffer for the rest of his life.

"Is this true Harry?" Mr. Weasely harshly inquired as he tightly grabbed Harry's arm forcing their eyes to meet in the attempt to get a straight answer out of the young boy who had been acting rather strangely over the summer. Harry was momentarily surprised by such force and only mostly recovered when he responded.

"You're hurting me." Harry winced but Mr. Weasely showed no signs of letting go before he got a clear answer from him. "No, I don't believe that is true." Ron was on the verge of saying something that he may regret later so Harry stopped him. "Ron. Something wasn't right back there. Please, just trust—"

"No Harry. I won't. I'm tired of blindly trusting you. Just look at how trusting you keeps ending." Ron looked him straight in the face and spoke with such finality that it shook Harry to his very core. "Let's go home Dad. Now." Apparently Harry's attempt was unsuccessful; assuming Ron would, in fact, not regret saying this later.

There was no argument over the issue, the five of them promptly made their way back to the Burrow. The silence was impenetrable; nobody dared speak, let alone look at one another. The void of noise was pierced only by Ginny's occasional stifled sniff or whimper. Harry couldn't stop thinking about what the Death Eater had said. _That doesn't make any sense! Draco isn't a death Eater, that's what he told me . . . he wouldn't lie to me . . . _His thoughts were on par to that of a skeptic. _Anyways, why would they refer to him as Draco? I suppose so as not to get him confused with Malfoy senior. But that means that they were really trying to get me to know—think that it was Draco who had informed them. Still—_Harry froze as he replayed the Death Eater's eerie, unexplainable death once more and he finally felt the full force of realization of what he had done which rushed through him and rendered his mind numb. _How could I do that . . . I didn't even say anything, I didn't mean to—I didn't—I—_

Harry's digressing thoughts were abruptly interrupted as a screech from the Ministry of Magic company car signified that they had arrived at the Burrow and that it was in fact time for them to disembark the vehicle which they did in quiet and concise movements and very somberly. Harry walked the quickest as he wanted nothing more than to lock himself away to pick over every detail of the words the Death Eater and he had exchange and to examine every facet of the past few weeks since he had found Draco in the park. As it would appear, he was going to do this alone as his friends were hell bent on blaming Draco and wouldn't put up with a single word placed in his defense. _Such trusting friends._ He snidely remarked to himself and allowing himself to sport an inner smirk. None of the others noticed is rush as they were all deeply consumed in thoughts of the day's events, each trying to get their bearings. He luckily bypassed Mrs. Weasely and was able to find the desired solitude in Ron's room, only to be disturbed by the ghost whose noise paled in comparison to his screaming thoughts.

"Nothing makes sense anymore!" Harry exclaimed in frustration, his flaring temper inadvertently blowing a pillow into a feathery pile of fluff. He frowned at his lack of self-control. "Hermione's not acting like herself. Then again it must have looked like I wasn't acting very much like me when Draco was here. Still, why does she doubt—well, Draco never did tell them." He paced furiously back and forth the cramped room. "And I suppose if I told them now they would just think I was just saying it to make him innocent or—ha! That's why that Death Eater said that all he would have to do is tell me that he was on my side . . . so that they wouldn't believe me if I told them now . . . which means that they know Draco told me . . ." This gave Harry a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach as this conclusion implied that they had been in contact with Draco. "But Draco can't be the only way for them to have known how and when to find me . . . yeah, they could have been watching Diagon Alley all summer . . . "This sounded rather a lot like a too hopeful stretch. He gave up the futile search for a plausible answer and flopped down onto his temporary bed and buried his head in the feathery fluff pile. His eyes fluttered shut, the day's events had drained him and all he could think about now was sleep. His eyes cemented shut and he breathed slowly, surrendering to the calls of sleep when the door to the room slammed open startling Harry right off of the bed.

"What?" Harry asked groggily as he wiped stray fluff off of his face and struggled to stand up. Mrs. Weasely had been the source of the ruckus as she bustled into the room. Immediately Harry could tell that she was about to get _very_ emotional and he braced himself for whatever she was going to do by tensing up.

"Oh, dearie! Are you all right?!" the over-protective mother of seven tackle-hugged him and held onto him for dear life." Ron told me what happened! So dangerous!" She wept uncontrollably onto Harry's stiff shoulders. Even after so many years he was uncomfortable with such close physical contact, well with _most _physical contact.

He wanted so badly to scream: "I told you so." But knew it wouldn't be helpful to the situation at hand so he just waited for the moment to be over so that he could once again breathe normally. Mrs. Weasely finally released him of her death grip and stared at him through blurry eyes. "Oh, ma'boy. You, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny are not to leave the burrow for any reason until school starts. Do you hear me?" She brandished her pointer finger threateningly at him until his nodded in agreement. She gave him a brief hug and kissed his check. "Thank you for saving Ginny, again." She gave him a weak smile before she bustled right out of the room, probably to go and cook dinner.

Ron had quietly entered behind his mother and had been leaning out of Harry's sight against the door frame so when his mother finally left Harry was able to see him. He just stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. It seemed as if the day had taken an immense toll on him and he looked as if he had aged years, his face was stern and his eyes were dark. Then he spoke, avoiding eye contact all the while, "Don't worry. I didn't tell her everything." That was all that needed to be said and they both retired to bed after the heavy words that even dashed any thought of eating dinner. The ghost also recognized the grave situation and made not a single peep through the night.

* * *

Mrs. Weasely had indeed gone back to the kitchen but not to cook. She sat down solemnly across from her husband, giving him a stern look. "Arthur, how could you have let Ginny out of your sight? What were you thinking?" The strained atmosphere was thick with tension. 

Mr. Weasely became sheepish under the scrutiny of her unforgiving expression. "Well, I don't know. I turned my head and the next thing I know she was gone. I looked all around me but there wasn't a clue to where she had disappeared to. And anyways, I thought there was nothing to worry about."

"Why did we ever think that?" She exclaimed in exasperation. "Of course, Albus said it was alright. What was that old coot thinking when he deduced that?" She and her husband each gave a hefty sigh and they delved into a superficial conversation with the question waiting on the back-burners of their minds.

* * *

"I didn't know Potter would react like that, let alone do that. How _int_'resting." A silky voice projected from the cold darkness that was the haven of night. "We'll just have to readjust the plan a little," There was a smirk present in the voice as it spoke "won't we my puppet." Somewhere behind the master came a pathetic whimper from the puppet in protest of whatever the silky voice was implying that they would do. The first voice let out an elegant and dominating laughter at the puppet's moan of objection.

* * *

Harry slept restlessly, waking every so often only thinking about how badly he wanted to get back to Hogwarts were he could resume a semi-normal existence. There he would at least finally be able to see Draco, hopefully, and maybe even talk to Dumbledore, that is if he isn't acting strangely anymore. _But what if Draco doesn't come back to school?_ Harry didn't want to entertain such a thought or its implications and instead switched things up and thought about how he was going to deal with his friends. More importantly, how he was going to stop Ron from bludgeoning Draco to death. He wanted nothing more than for Ron and Hermione to know the truth so that they could all get along. _Damn, not even a Hufflepuff would believe that could happen._ He laughed silently to himself at his over exaggerated statement wishing that he could share his laughter with his friends. Around four in the morning Harry was able to fall asleep uninterrupted by his thoughts, or his hopes and fears of what was to come. 

When Harry awoke three hours later, he felt oddly refreshed and with a feeling of anticipation that told him the day was going to be a good one, relatively speaking of course considering how Ginny would probably be feeling. He cheerily got dressed and greeted Ron a good morning with less enthusiasm than he was feeling but with enough feeling to tell Ron that he wanted to put everything in the past. Ron was slightly perturbed by Harry's sudden and mysterious mood adjustment that seemed maladjusted for the situation. His lack of reply didn't halt Harry's progress out of the door. For once in a really long time he actually had the desire to eat and so he gave an even bigger inner smile at the thought of what Mrs. Weasely had cook for breakfast. He felt that perhaps things would look better and he would be able to patch things up as best he could with Ron and Hermione without telling them about Draco's secret and that they could go back to the way things had always been. They would understand, eventually, they always came around.

Harry, upon taking the previous day into account, sobered up at least a little because he realized that it would be disturbing if he were to smile at the breakfast table after such an experience. It was also the mystery of his happiness that dimmed his mood. Draco was gone. Ginny was—hurt and not to mention, emotionally scarred. There was still weeks until school was to start. What could he be happy about? He lightly thought over such a mind boggling question. His string of thoughts ended with the long overdue conclusion that it was a rhetorical question and as such it didn't have a satisfying conclusive answer, let alone an answer at all; in other words it was a question for show. Upon this realization of such a pseudo-propound statement he passed Ginny's door which Hermione happened to be exiting at the same moment. She looked tired beyond hell; it looked as if she had been punched in the eyes. Her hair was frizzed to all ends and it was fairly evident that she had not slept a wink. Harry opted out of asking whether she was okay, figuring it was a stupid question.

"Um, is Ginny doing better?" Harry refused to meet her eyes unsure of what he would see in them; instead he stared intently at his fidgeting feet which prevented him from seeing the unreadable and piercing look that passed across her face that was gone before she responded. "She says that she can't remember anything. Let's hope that's true, she'll be better off that way." Having answered the question she promptly turned to descend the stairs.

Harry felt bad, but why? What was wrong with him, he hadn't done anything wrong. He didn't want her to walk away from him with the air of unspoken hostility or something of the like. "Wait?" He called out after her. "How—how are you doing? Yesterday was really—I—" Something reminiscent of hope flittered across her face but was just as quickly replaced with a stoic look as she continued her descent.

His call brought Hermione to pause in her step where she stared at her hand that was holding onto the railing. "I meant every word I said Harry." She sadly responded to Harry's incoherent jabbering before he could say something naïve or stupid. "Maybe next time—" She purposely left her sentence hanging in the air unfinished just before she was out of Harry's hearing distance so that maybe he would stop and think about what he'd done.

Harry was put off by her preemptive statement and by her unfinished sentence that was so vague! _Next time?__Of what?__ What'll happen next time that could be different? What did I do wrong?_ Contemplating such unanswerable questions was pointless and Harry was finally getting the last pieces of the puzzle to figuring that out. He soon after commenced his descent once more, as well, to the kitchen, void of any brain numbing thoughts. Breakfast was an uneventful occurrence and the atmosphere seemed on the verge of imploding from all of the pent up nerves that were contributed by everyone but Harry. Not a word was spoken for the entirety of the affair for there was nothing to complain about and there was nobody to readily blame. That is no one they could blame that wouldn't cause a complete melt down because everyone knew Harry supported the idea of Draco's innocence and this was not the time to be creating any more internal problems. They all knew that if they got in a huge row over whether it was Draco who had betrayed them or not then Harry may do something drastic and if he didn't do it over the summer he would definitely do something stupid during school and Hermione and Ron wouldn't be able to stop him if they weren't on speaking terms. Ron ate his food viciously; stabbing each piece with much more force than was appropriately necessary and his mother didn't even eat at all.

The silence continued even when everyone got up and left the table. Harry expected for Hermione to drag them all into a room and suggest, well demand, that they talk about what had happened yesterday to try and get to the bottom of what was really going on. Like why they were waiting and how they knew when to wait for him, why he didn't think that Draco was their informer, and what had happened with Harry's wand. He smiled inwardly at the familiar nostalgic feeling that flooded his mind, remembering all the times Hermione helped him or forced him to do his own homework, all the time she had helped him figure things out since the beginning like when she solved the potions riddle on the way to the sorcerer's stone. This reminded him of how Ron had been the Knight and had risked death so that he and Hermione could make it across the chess board unscathed. They were always there for him when he was in a jam and usually when it was something like a life or death situation. Caught up in his longing thoughts of recapturing those feelings he let a grin slip onto his face which earned him a disgusted look from Hermione accompanied by a scoff which drew him back to reality. "So—" Harry began to inquire but he wasn't given the chance to finish when Hermione brushed past him and ascended the stairs at an amazingly fast pace, closely followed by Ron who didn't even give harry any acknowledgement of having seen him.

"Okay, yeah, I'll just go outside and meet up with you guys later." Harry noted that his friends had just basically blew him off and had overall ignored him and then stored it away in the farthest metaphorical filing cabinet in the back of his mind so that it could later manifest itself into a dark mass, waiting until it reaches critical mass so that it can explode and cause some sort of mental stroke. He walked, alone, to the garden and flopped onto the ground to gaze at the cloud formations high above him. He breathed in the fresh late summer air peacefully. It's amazing how he hadn't stopped to critically think about what he'd done; he had killed. But the simple conclusions is that he was repressing such a thought, although one day he was to kill Voldemort, he still hadn't faced the part about killing someone or in Voldemort's case more of a something. Harry had felt such a strong desire to put things in order just the night before so it was odd that he was so calm and free of thought.

Every day after was exactly the same: Harry got up, said good-morning to Ron, descended the stairs, inquired as to how Ginny was doing, how Hermione herself was doing even thought she had begun to refuse to answer him, ate breakfast in silence, went out to lie in the garden to stare at the clouds or occasionally do some de-gnoming, ate lunch, went back to the garden or to polish and or fly his firebolt, alone, ending the day with dinner and the long and lonely ascent to bed. Leaving all his unattended thoughts to fester in the darkness, each day noting his friend ignorance of him other than the occasional look that had a variety of meanings at different times, none of which Harry bothered to consider as he had become rather distanced. And each day it diminished his inner smile fractionally. With the paradoxical feeling that the closer the first day of school got the further away if felt, drawing away Harry's hope and any shred of care. He had almost resigned himself to sleep the remaining days away when he finally heard those destined words delivered by Mr. Weasely:

"Time to go. The train won't wait for you if you're late."

And off they went to Platform 9 and ¾, in a highly secure Ministry of Magic car. Even Ginny went which was surprising as she had isolated herself in her room to deal with her experience that she claimed she had no memory of. Though in the last few days she had managed to come out of her room to eat dinner but when she did she always looked at the ground and never said more than two words to anyone. The first time she came out it was when Harry was passing her door to breakfast and asking Hermione the usual, how Ginny was doing, when she came out and said a quick thank you before darting back into her room. Like the last few weeks in the Burrow, the car ride was completely silent as was their trip through the wall. Ron and Hermione quickly boarded the train muttering something about pressing prefect duties that they needed to do to Harry and Ginny was rather skittish and stayed close to Ron leaving Harry alone, again.

He had been waiting to return to school all summer but he felt so uninterested and almost depressed. He had hoped he would see Draco but it seemed that perhaps Ron and Hermione had been right in assuming Malfoy had betrayed him. Harry sighed and boarded at the very end of the train and entered the farthest empty compartment in the back. As he shoved his luggage above the seats he saw a billowing cloak out of the corner of his eye before he heard the compartment door swiftly click shut and Harry's heart stopped dead in its tracks.

"Hey Harry."

* * *

_I'm not paralyzed but I seem to be struck by you_

_I __wanna__ make you move because you're __standin__' still_

_If your body matches what your eyes can do_

_You'd probably move right through me on my way to you._

_-__Paralyzer__ by Finger Eleven_

**This song was ****runnin****' through my head while I was typing the chapter so yeah . . . **

**HA ****HA****HA**** a cliffy . . . kind of . . . . .**

**Yay**** I updated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**It's ****meh**** longest chapter so far XD ****XD****XD**

**Remember I loves it when you all review XD**


	11. Chapter 11: Tired and Unnoticed

Chapter 11: Tired and Unnoticed

OMG. I am sooooooooo so very sorry for not updating in so long. I was being really lazy and then I got slammed with studying for IB examens in early to late May. I really hope that you guys haven't given up on me. If you guys want, that is if you ask, I'll put short summaries of each chapter at the beginning of the next chapter.

Sorry if there are errors, I felt I made you wait long enough for this chapter. Please don't hate me.

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Harry couldn't believe his ears! Someone was talking to him, someone was calling his name. It felt as if it was the first time in ages that anyone had addressed him in any way. He was lost for a moment in his unequivocal happiness. Then it came to him. _It's Draco, I'm not sure though . . . the voice . . . _He abandoned his luggage as he spun on his heels to meet the source of the greeting just as the train started, causing it to clatter to the compartment floor. "Dra--" The utter look of joy evaporated from his face as he saw the boy before him. "Oh, hi Neville. I thought--oh, never mind." Harry's shoulders slumped forward as all his hopes had been dashed. He sadly turned around and sank back to the ground to attend to his luggage that had managed to spew its contents everywhere.

Neville was puzled by Harry's incomplete sentences along with his odd and quickly changing facial expressions. He had the vague feeling that he had done something wrong. "Are you--uh, do you need any help?" He nervously questioned, feeling as though he was on thin ice by interrupting Harry's silence. Neville waited patiently for Harry to answer as he rubbed his toe into the ground almost in shyness.

"Sure." Harry answered in a complete monotone. Then he raised his head and gave Neville a weak smile that didn't quite reach his eyes leaving them a dull and uncertain color of green which was an unsettling sight that left Neville chilled. It was as if Harry's solitude had smothered all of the brightness out of his eyes leaving them dead and empty; alone.

The two of them methodically put away Harry's belongings, even managing to organize it to a small extent. Harry didn't meet Neville's eyes once as he spoke of his summer and all the activities that his grandmother had made him do with her. Not even a particular event that entailed a drunk banshee and a shifty goblin had caught Harry's eyes which were glued to the task at hand. After his luggage was safely packed above the seats they each sat on opposing sides and Harry's eyes became fixated on some unknown formation in the far distance outside the window. He was only half listening to the drone that was Neville's voice that floated to his ears. He was semi-conscious of what was being said to him and he was able to occasionally nod his head at the appropriate moments. Harry was torn out of his daze when he realized that Neville had asked him a direct question that involved an answer that consisted of something more than just a nod of the head.

"Harry, how was your summer?" Neville inquired for the fifth time, wearing a slightly puzzled expression at the absent look that enveloped Harry's face and his lack of response to the question. Again Neville got the feeling that perhaps he shouldn't be treading on Harry's silence but he also wanted to show some interest in his summer rather than just blabbering on constantly about his.

"Oh." Harry spoke in a dull surprise, more of an unexpected sigh, as he slowly drew his eyes from the window. For a moment Harry stared into nothing as he pondered his answer. "Fine, I guess." He unimaginatively and vaguely answered before he went back to staring out the window at the darkening and stormy skies above. Somehow looking off into the distance made it easier for him to try and forget.

Neville attempted to attain more specifics of Harry's summer but he couldn't reach him, Harry's cloudy green eyes were lost in the stormy sea and the oncoming lighting storm. Time seemed to crawl by in the heavy silence, only forty minutes had passed since the train had left Platform 9 3/4 which made the dark weather even more eerie. Though the silence had barely lasted more than twenty minutes Neville began to feel nervous because he didn't know what to do. The minutes kept aching by as Harry's eyes became more shadowed. He was about to scream and run out of the compartment when the door burst open. It was Luna Lovegood. Neville gave a reluctant sigh as he wiped the nervous sweat off his brow.

"Hey, Luna." He greeted in a twitchy manner as the bushy haired girl wearing all sorts of oddities shut the door behind her and plopped down onto the seat next to him. However grateful he was for her presence he was still thrown of by her sudden noise. He shifted uneasily but quickly got comfortable as she put all her stuff down and became as familiar as ever.

"Hello, Neville. Hello, Harry." She greeted back in a dreamy and slightly vacant voice as she pulled out a rumpled copy of The Quibbler. "Did you have a good summer?" She asked in the same intonation. Without waiting for a response though she began to recount her innumerable stories of what she had done over the summer with her father in the quest to find the elusive Habblesnatcher that only dwells in the most foul and wretched smelling bodies of pond scum located only in the most remote of areas in which even ants refused to live. As Neville listened quite attentively to Luna's encounters Harry found that he had not the energy to turn his head even the slightest in order to show that he was paying attention when in fact he had no intention of following the conversation, with no intention to remember. Instead he continued to look out the compartment windows, out into the dark skies that consumed his mind more and more. After Luna finished telling Neville of her eventful adventures Neville once more delved into his summer funs while Harry was able to tune them out completely so that the only thing that he was able to hear was the imagined sound of waves violently crashing against cliffs unmercifully and the constant noise of his lone beating heart.

As the minutes dragged by, Harry could only think of Draco, it would seem that the dark skies above wouldn't absolve him of all thought as he had wanted. After all, how could he have let his guard down so fast, so easily and let his enemy in unaware to the probable outcome? How could he have been so careless? He truly wanted to believe that Draco had been telling the truth and that he had been set up but everything was just too perfect. No, he can't think that way, Draco is his friend, unlike Hermione and Ron it appeared at the moment. Harry couldn't stop thinking how his friends were ignoring him and how they often had the habit of doing so when he needed them the most. So many times it felt like he had always ultimately been left alone to figure things out despite how much everyone around him said that they were their or him. Whenever he made one little mistake everyone got mad at him. He had thought that Ron and Hermione had come around at least a little bit before his disappearance but he had been wrong. He couldn't see why his friends were being so narrow minded. Or maybe he was being to hopeful. All his thoughts swirled through his head and it only made him feel depressed and alone, not to mention a little nauseas. Why couldn't he just be left alone to spend time with whoever he wanted? He was so sick and tired of all the fighting, all the side choosing and the stupid war; he just wanted to be a nobody surrounded by friends that didn't judge. The odds always seemed to be against him, taking away whatever hope he ever gained and anything he truly wanted. However imperceptable, Harry's heart got just a littler colder, just a little more guarded.

Harry was jostled out of his thoughts when the lady with the cart of food appeared. Though Luna and Neville loaded up on their candy, Harry slouched back into the seat with not even a hint of being hungry. Now that he thought about it he hadn't been hungry for quite some time; ever since Draco had gone. Neville kept eyeing Harry after the cart had long since left and he had begun to eat but Harry didn't notice until Neville finally spoke. "Are you alright Harry? You look a little pale." He looked on with a worried face at the withering boy before him ready to react if Harry did anything, showed any sign of life. "And you look rather thinner than usually." Luna noted in her eerie voice though barely pausing in her candy consumption. "Would you like a chocolate covered frog?" She offered with an outstreched hand with the candy on it. Harry lethargically lifted his head and miserably shook his head. "Alright, suit yourself." She commenced to shovel down her candy. Neville spared him one more look before turning to his own treats, eating them at a considerably slower pace than Luna.

Had Harry been more alert he would have noticed the lack of his friends' presence but in his current stated he wasn't able really to sense anything around him. Had he been paying attention he would have seen them passing by the compartment once or twice and how they never looked in the compartment door window as they were content in holding each others' hand and giggling at some new formed inside joke that Harry was forever to be left out of the loop. It would have also been made apparent to Harry that Ginny hadn't joined his compartment either, though she wasn't following Ron anymore, she must have been with Seamus or Dean. HE had almost expected the train ride to be like all the others before, he had the feeling that Malfoy would pop in with his loyal and extremely dense cohorts to insult and annoy himat any moment and that he and Ron would be ready for a fight with Hermione in the background trying to reason with them. But this unconscious habit was unfulfilled darkening Harry's mood even more. His sense of time was disappearing into the dark clouds around him and he let himself drift into a dead sleepin which he was allowed no feeling, no dreaming, and no thinking.

In a compartment at the opposite side of the train, you could say the one that was almost the farthest away from Harry's, held Ginny, Dean, Seamus, Ron and Hermione. Dean had noticed immediately upon Ron and Ginny's entrance that something was wrong with Ginny. Ron had whispered something to Ginny before he had left with Hermione to deal with prefect duties and had told him to sit next to Ginny. Ginny and he were amicable enough and he was smart enough to know that he didn't need to say anything, not that he would have any idea of what to say if needed to, after all, he wasn't the greatest with talking to girls. So instead he let her slump lifelessly into his side as he protectively put his arm around her shoulders even though he had no idea what he could possible be protecting her from. They sat like that for some time and when the lady with the cart of candies came by he bought Ginny and himself some Bernie Bott's Every Flavored Beans which got Ginny to sit up and give the weakest of smiles to no one in particular. Shortly after, Ron and Hermione showed back up in the compartment closely followed by Seamus. The atmosphere in this compartment was considerably lighter and more friendly than Harry's, the occupants enjoyed each others' company and shared memories of years before and new ones made over the summer but that was mostly on the coat tails of Dean and Seamus while Ginny mostly listened. Though there was an unitentifiable paranoia emminating from Ron and Hermione, this was because when they had gone to their prefect meeting they hadn't seen Malfoy which was greatly unsettling considering the specifics of his disappearance and what happened after. It was also frightening in the slightest when they couldn't find him anywhere on the train, though they had barely noticed Harry the first time they looked into his compartment for the briefest of seconds and only after having past it multiple times did they actually concsiously notice him. But they wouldn't let Draco's lack of presence bother them, they took it as a good sign that they wouldn't ever have to see him again or at least not at school this year.

The time finally came when all of the students needed to change into their robes as they could all sense their approaching destination. One by one everyone did so, some with more excitement than others while others did it using muscle memory so that they didn't even have to think about it and were amazed when they found that they were dressed and ready for school when just the second before they had been wearing their normal clothes. Before Harry had gotten dressed, he had been sleeping like the undead, as pale as a corpse. He was thankful when Neville had gently shaken his shoulder to tell him that it was time to change. When he awoke he found that he was cold and that the only heat was coming from the momentary contact that Neville made with his shoulder. Oh, how he missed the warmth of another peron leaning against him or even being near him. Even as he dragged his belongings with him off the train he still managed to look like a corpse that was merely floating. He desperatly wanted to get away from the glances that Neville kept giving him so he slyly slipped away from them and found his was to a carriage that was occupied by fellow students that he had never seen; two from Hufflepuff and one from Ravenclaw. He was happy that he didn't recognize them, then he didn't have to feel awkward for not talking. They didn't even notice his presence as he got into the carriage and they continued their cheery conversation as it seemed that they hadn't finished telling their summer stories on the obscenely long train trip.

Harry easily tunned out the fluffy conversation as he stared out the carriage window and listened to the soft hooting of Hedwig in her cage as she sleep. At that moment he realized how he had almost forgotten that he had an owl. He tried hard to be comforted by the fact that she was just alone as he but all he felt was guilty for ignoring her all summer, he hadn't even let her out she had had to weasel her own way out of her cage and catch her own food. "Maybe I'll let you free this year Hedwig. It's not like you need me around, you'd be a lot happier without a crappy owner like me." He softly whispered to the sleeping owl beside him. He considered stroking her feathers but he didn't want to bother her anymore. "I suppose I could try to use you to reach Draco but than again I suppose that you would just wind up getting hurt. Just like everything else I touch." He solemly addressed the bird in a voice that was bearly audible even to himself. His eyes became ever so slightly misty as he remembered how she was Hagrid's gift to him and his first pet and friend. "I'll miss you Hedwig."

When their conversations faded they finally became aware that he was in their carriage. "What are you doing in here? Don't you have any of your own friends?" It was the Ravenclaw who asked him this in a nasty voice. "Afterall, your Harry Potter that should have gotten you some 'friends'." One of the Hufflepuffs laughed a little awkwardly while the other just watched for some sort of scene. She couldn't believe that he (as she saw it) felt that he could do whatever he wanted and be wherever he wanted. To her, he was only in their carriage to make sure that they knew who he was and could say that they had sat in a carriage with him.

Harry, drawn away from his discussion with Hedwig, sadly looked up at the icy Ravenclaw. "They don't want me anymore. They despise me." His frankness and utter dispair threw off the Ravenclaw and shut her right up. All she was able to do was to pointedly huff at him before completely ignoring him again. She was confused at his behavior, it was so illogical and out of character, he was suppose to be boastful and cheery. Obviously he really just a nobody who was lucked into fame.

The carriage ride to the castle felt short and Harry was thankful for that, it ment that he was all the closer to being asleep in the place he felt he could call home, the place he felt safe. Though as he filed out of the carriage after the other occupants he faltered in his steps as he realized that he would have to room with Ron and that he probably wouldn't be seeing Draco any time soon if ever. He trudged along with the crowd with his head down into the warmth of the castle into the dinning hall. In his dispair he had practically become invisible, people were bumping into him left and right not even stopping to turn their head let alone apologize. But it didn't matter Harry couldn't bring himself to care even the slightest. The walk to the Gryffindor table felt like the longest walk he had ever taken, it seemed to take longer than the time it took for the Sorting Hat to decide which house he would be in back at the beginning of his first year. As he shuffled closer he was able to lift his head just enough for him to catch a glimpse of where Ron, Hermione and Ginny were sitting so that he could be sure not to sit next to them. He ended up sitting next to a jittery Collin Creevy but at this point not even Creevy's annoying behavior could get to him. His 'friends' didn't even spare him a look but then again neither did he.

The sorting went just as any other year; people cheered, clapped, and ate. Harry skipped out on all of them and was content with just staring at the glass of pumpkin juice that happened to be in front of him. Ron and Hermione on the other hand did so, they even greeted to nervous newcomers to the table and relaxed them so that they weren't so frightened. Ron even made a few jokes and taunts about Slytherine that only half made them laugh and half make them even more twitchy. Their reactions made Ron laugh and Hermione slug him in the shoulder for frightening the 'little ones' as she called them. But just as on the train, Harry was too zoned out to notice the difference from being included to being alone like he was so he just stared blankly forward.

Had he been paying attention to where he was staring, that is just past the proffesors' table, he would have noticed Snape's expression. It was one that was greatly unsettled, it looked almost as if he were trying to catch Harry's eye's to perhaps glare at them furiously or just to see what exactly was the target of the dazed boy's staring eyes. Snape was greatly concerned on put out by Harry's strange isolation. Though he detested the boy he was bothered that he was already derpressed before the year had begun however glad that made him knowing that their was something wrong with Harry's life it meant that he would be an easy and boring target during potions. Snape had already been bothered by the lack of absence of his favorite student, Draco Malfoy, and now it seemed that he was destined to have no entertainment for the year as well. His snaky eyes followed Potter out of the hall as he made his way to the Gryfindor tower with a scowl on his face seeing that in fact he was not nearing his friends and once more creating the Golden Trio. After all the students had left to hall he turned to Dumbledore.

"Dumbledore, why may I ask is you precious Potter so gloomy?" He smirked at the last part once more enjoying a little bit of satisfaction at Harry's predicament. "Shouldn't he be with Granger and Weasely?" Dumbledore's eyes just twinkled back at him wordlessly before he rose from his seat and left for his living quarters to sleep like all of the students. Just when Snape figure that Dumbledore wasn't going to say anything at all to him the man suddenly but elegently swirled to a stop and addressed him. "Don't worry about it, it's probably just kid problems. You should get some sleep." And then he was off again.

Harry was relieved when the night was over and he was able to retreat to the Gryffindor tower he still remembered every foot of the castle and this created an overwhelming comfort in him that did him some good to think about. He finally reached to tower and made it through the portrait of the fat lady quietly and was actually able to avoid everyone's view as he hide upstairs. He made his way to the empty room reserved for sixth year boys and slowly made his way to the bed in the farthest corner away from the door which also happened to be next to the window. He gently cracked the window to let in a slight cool breeze that allowed him to relax. He settled down onto the bed, closed all of the curtains and laid down to sleep without even changing into his pajamas or taking another thought, he was tired of thinking. None of the boys bothered or even noticed him when they entered the room and choose their beds and one by one they all feel asleep with smiles on their faces at the fact that they were all back at school and together. Everyone was at peace and would never be able to guess to what eventfull things were about to unfold before everyone's eyes. Noone would ever be the same.

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Does that count as a cliffhanger?

I'm really going to try to update more frequently up to the time I leave more college in late August. So if all goes well, maybe I'll furioursly type away and get two more chapters up before I begin my next four year journey that will undoubtably slow me down again.

Again, i'm really sorry for taking so long.

Please comment XD


	12. Chapter 12: Rest and Relaxation, Almost

**Chapter 12: Rest and Relaxation, Almost**

Please enjoy and feel free to comment XD

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Harry was the first to awaken in the dorm room to a soft breeze that was flowing through window that he had left open the night before. The colors of the room around him swam in front of him it seemed that his glasses had fallen off in the middle of the night. In a way it was nice that he couldn't se anything, that he couldn't focus on the world that seemed to be cutting him of from any happiness. His vision blurred even more with tears that had been repressed since everything had begun to go wrong. Harry knew that he should get up and ready for the first day back but he didn't think he had the energy. For a moment longer he let himself drift into an oblivion edging on unconsciousness before he slowly rose to a sitting position. He sat almost motionless with his head down ruffling his hands through his ever untidy hair to no effect. He sighed but not out of exhaustion but rather out of resignation before he dropped his hands to his sheets to search out his glasses. He wasn't at it long when his right hand found its intended target. Harry paused for the briefest second before he slid them on his face slipping but a fraction on the bridge of his nose.

Harry half turned his head to glance at the rest of the sixth year boys that were still peacefully sleeping completely unaware of Harry's awakened state. His eyes were strangely empty as he realized that he was in this on his own, if Ron and Hermione weren't going to help him neither would anyone else. After all, they wouldn't understand anymore than his friends did. With that Harry swung his legs to the side of the bed and stood up mechanically. He considered changing into a new set of robes and decided it didn't matter if he did so he resigned himself to stretching his arms above his head before he organized his bag for the day and left the room to descend the stairs to the common room. He was meet with a dead fire and empty chairs and sofas. Just another empty room. But Harry didn't notice as he made his way out of the portrait to make his way down to an early breakfast.

The corridors were empty as Harry trudged down the various stairs and pathways that led to the Great Hall. The atmosphere was chilly and the light emitted from the candles that peppered the walls danced around him as he proceeded. The slight breath of air that coursed through the halls wrapped around him as though it was the only thing keeping Harry from simply standing still. His head hung low not taking in the patterns of light that surrounded him. There was the occasionally ghost that passed nearby but they paid no attention to the lone Gryffindor. Once Harry made it to the Great Hall the four House tables were filled with the few other early birds eating a light breakfast before the first classes of the day. Harry took a seat on the end of the bench closest to the door leading out of the Great Hall. Though he wasn't particularly hungry he stacked a few pancakes and pieces of toast on his plate. He had hardly paid any attention to what he was eating when he finally realized that he was done. When he looked up he found he was at a loss at what to do with himself, there was nothing to talk about and no one to talk to.

He considered his free time as he didn't have to make his way to Charms for another hour and a half. With his bag in hand, he made his way to find somewhere quiet, somewhere he could be alone. The best place for that he thought was the Room of Requierment after all, not many people knew of it and it certainly wasn't likely that any of them would show up. He made three passes thinking 'somewhere secluded' and halted with his hand just above the handle as a chill ran down his spine. He wasn't alone.

Harry spun around on his heels expecting to find someone standing behind him but his only companions were the shadows that clung to the walls around him. So it appeared he really was alone. He barged through the door to find a quaint room that had a cozy fire in the right hand corner of what appeared to be much like a small study. There was a plush chair positioned at an angle to the hearth with a small side table set next to it with a cup of steaming tea seating in solitude. The ground was covered by an intricate rug that was made of dark colours that Harry couldn't fully make out in lack of a sufficient light source other then the silent fire. He absentmindedly set down his bag as he closed the door and made his way to the comfortable looking chair. As he sat he quietly took in the four walls that surrounded him that were packed to the ceiling full of books. He peacefully took in the quiet atmosphere in a place no one would find him.

Back in the common room of the Gryffindor tower Hermione was impatiently waiting for Ron to make his way down so that they could make there way back to breakfast. When a ruffled red head appeared she immediately took action. "Ronald Weasely! Are you tying to make us late for the first class. If you don't hurry up we won't be able to eat a good breakfast and then there would be no way for us to learn at our full capacity!" She finished with an exasperated sigh.

Ron just rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, yeah. We only have Charms." He paused as Hermione blew past him to the portrait. He obediently followed her at a brisk pace.

Even though Hermione was still mad at Harry for his foolishness she still wanted to know where he was, to keep an eye on him. "Where's Harry, sulking around crying over his friend?" She practically spat the last bit which scared Ron for a moment before he too found his anger again.

"No, I suppose he was long gone before any of us got up." Ron answered dutifully. "Hopefully he'll have already eaten his breakfast. But the day wasn't going to start drearily for them as a few minutes later to ran into Luna and Neville talking joyfully as they walked. As there paths crossed Luna's half vacant eyes locked onto Hermione.

In her most dazed voice she questioned Hermione. "It seems you two are missing one. Where is Harry?" Neville looked uncomfortable as she asked the other two.

"Hmmph. I'm not his keeper." Hermione was about to become very unpleasant when Neville cut in. "How about some breakfast." This cast a smile on everyone as they couldn't wait to once more dig into the delicious Hogwarts food. They continued to the Great Hall as a bubbly crowd of laughter and general enjoyment. None of them noticed the glares sent there way by their fellow rivals in Slytherin. Nor did they notice when one particular Slytherin shadowed them into the Hall. As they settled in to begin eating a very familiar and annoying voice broke in.

"Have the lackeys finally gotten rid of their golden master?" The snide voice belonged to none other than Pansy Parkinson. "I guess you guys might actually have half brain to know to leave his useless sorry--"

"Shut up. Don't talk about Harry that way!" Amazingly enough it wasn't Ron or even Hermione that was defending the brave Gryffindor but rather Neville who had jumped off the bench.

The Slytherin cackled. "Oh, bugger off. You precious Potter is a slimy git who can't keep his goody-to-shoes to himself. So the next time you see him make sure to tell him to keep his disgustingly righteous self away from my Draco." Her eyes glinted with jealousy and rage as she stormed of leaving them with the foreboding message.

Hermione, Ron and Neville all exchanged a very odd look at what Parkinson could have possibly be talking about. It wasn't as if Malfoy was at school anyways. They decided it would be better if they just ignored it for now and continued eating. The rest of the breakfast, however short it was, continued uninterrupted until Hermione bustled the off to the familiar Charms room.

The three of them settled into their seats in the third row and methodically got out their Charms materials which in this case was their sixth year charms book and a small brown mouse that had been provided to them by the Professor. As class slowly begun they soon were informed as a small maze was conjured in front of them by their Professor that they were to charm the mouse to be able to sense the end. It was a simple locating charm really but as you can imagine with a large group of student that someone would get it wrong by flicking instead of swishing or something of the sort. And indeed it was Ron a large puff of purple smoke had burst out of the tip of his wand and the mouse proceeded to chase its own tail furiously.

Ron frowned deeply as Hermione smirked at him and Neville giggled. "Well, I'd like to see Harry--" He began but never finished when he realized that a) he was ignoring his previous best friend and b) that said best friend was not there. Ron, completely ignoring the mouse that still ran in circles at the beginning of the maze, looked all around him looking for any sign of Harry. Even Hermione stopped watching her mouse who had completely the course and was now making its way back to the beginning to do it over again and searched out any sign of the raven-haired boy.

"That's not like Harry at all." Ron stated with the faintest hint of worry edging in on her speech just below the audible level. "Maybe something happened to him."

"Harry can take care of himself." Hermione frowned. "He doesn't need us babysitting him all day long." At that she quickly snapped her wand at Ron's mouse before it would run in circles to its own demise. Ron looked confused for a moment then decided she was right which sent a shudder down his back as he remembered what had happened back at Diagon Alley. _I certainly hope he can take care of himself._

* * *

In the dark room that the Room of Requirement had transformed into had been much more comfortable than Harry had first suspected. Sitting in the plush chair by the reassuring fire he had quickly fallen asleep. He hadn't even realized that he had been tired but then again it wasn't really his body that was tired but his mind. He had been fighting something since Draco had first appeared mostly on an unconscious level. Nevertheless it had taken its toll on him. When he woke he felt more refreshed than e had felt or a long time the room even seemed brighter when he opened his eyes. He pleasantly smiled to himself as he stretched his limbs even though they weren't sore or stiff. Then to his great shock his eyes had found the clock on their own accord to show him that he was quit late to his first class. Charms only had a few minutes left!

Harry shot of the chair as if it had bitten him as he rushed to gather his bag and bolt out the door. However, just as he made it to the door to the Charms room people began to file out filling the halls with the light chatter of friends recounting what they had done in class or grumbling about the massive they had received in their very first class. _I can't believe I missed the whole class! _Harry thought to himself rather disappointed in his lack of attendance. Now all he had to look forward was Double Potions. What a crappy day this was turning out to be for Harry. He trudged his was rather dejectedly to the dungeons in the cold levels below. He was so downcast that he didn't notice when Hermione and Ron bustled past him with an awkward Neville in tow trying his hardest to keep up with them.

"What about Harry you guys?" Neville tried to plea as he past Harry unnoticed. "Aren't you worried that he didn't show up for class?" But Hermione and Ron were trying their hardest to ignore the pestering fellow Gryffindor as they slithered out of answering by instead turning the conversation to how much better Double Potions with Slytherin would be seeing as Malfoy wouldn't be there to bother them.

Soon the only students that occupied the deep corridor were the sixth year Gryffindors on one side and sixth year Slytherins calmly leaning against the other while Harry stood in the shadows avoiding everyone, not that he had to try hard the two houses were too busy glaring at the other side with daggers or other assorted weapons that could poke out the eye of the staring counterpart.

It wasn't long after they had begun their stare-off when Snape made his way billowing the entire way to the Potion room's door unlocking it without even giving his robes the time to settle. The students quietly filled in behind them and all found a table to sit at with one other person. Harry hated this part everyone seemed to have someone to sit with leaving him to hoover behind the farthest table in the back by himself when he noticed Pansy Parkinson oddly sitting alone. She seemed to be nervously glancing at the door every few minutes. But he hardly took notice when Snape broke into a stream of speech the marked the beginning of his lecture.

Ten minutes of quick speech had Harry's head swimming with information only half of which he seemed to be able to access for the next minute or so. The class was then instructed to turn to page 47, follow the instructions on the board and to place their summer homework on his desk before they left along with a vial of their finished product clearly labeled with their name, as well as telling them to fill three other vials that they were to keep safe and lastly to write a foot long essay on the potion. Once Harry reviewed the instructions for the potion and the accompanying essay he found that it was to be a rather simple but useful potion; it was a potion that would allow the drinker to see through simple illusions and disguises. Harry wondered to himself why Professor Snape would ever give them so useful and not in anyway dangerous. It was as if he wasn't even try to make anyone fail, even Neville wouldn't be intimidated by this potion.

Harry calmly collected all the necessary ingredients and neatly organized them in the order they would be needed. Perhaps it was the fact that Harry was sitting in the back but he noticed that not even Snape had come to bother him he wasn't even glaring at him from afar. In fact he seemed to stay seated the entire time. But this wasn't quit true as Harry was out of sorts he didn't notice when Snape did looked at him curiously.

With thirty minutes left of class Harry found that he had succeeded in creating the correct potion it was the exact shade of night blue that had been described in the book. He proudly corked a small vile before he pulled out his summer homework before he made his way to the Professor's desk where he silently laid them down on the corner. Though, as he turned to return to his seat the Professor look up and stopped him. "Are you forgetting something Mr. Potter."

Harry was preparing for an onslaugt of demeaning remarks when he turned around staring at the desk not wanting to meet Snape's eyes. "Sorry, sir?"

"You didn't label your vial." As he said this he had the faintest hint of a smirk. He was about to take five points from Gryffindor but something stopped him.

"Sorry about that Professor. I'll do that now." Harry did so without lifting his eyes to see the flash of surprise that crossed Snape's eyes at Harry's submissive behavior that had none of his usual bravado. Snape was so shocked that Harry was back to his table before he realized it. Harry was feeling so productive that he even began to write the foot long essay on the background, uses, advantages and disadvantages of the potion that he had just created.

Hermione had been struggling to stir the potion correctly while being constantly distracted by Ron's incessant stream of questions and pleas for help when her attention was caught by movement. When she had turned her head it was to see Harry depositing his homework and completed homework on Snape's desk. She stared in awe that Harry was the first to finish and strained to hear what the Professor said to him but she wasn't able to catch a single word. It had been a mistake to take her eyes off her potion as well as Ron because when she looked back into her cauldron it was filled with a liquid that was had been a bright blue becoming darker much to fast and soon it had turned to a tar like substance. "Drats!" What was worse was Ron's potion which had frothed to a foaming orange substance that smelt like yeast. They both had to start over again.

Hermione brooded for the rest of the class as she blamed Harry for her failed attempt as well as blaming him for Ron's even worse failure. In the end she was able to achieve to expected potion but Ron had not been so lucky he only produced a liquid that was too light to be night blue. When they returned to their seats after cleaning and putting away their cauldron's they were meet by Neville's light talk as he had chosen the desk in front of them. "I'm surprised that you weren't the first to finish Hermione! I can't believe Harry beat you!" Hermione scowled to herself only letting her mouth twitch in the slightest sign of the inner scowl. "I thought for sure that Professor Snape was going to take points from us when Harry had forgotten to write his name on his vile."

Hermione was very surprised by the last fact. "Everyone seems to be acting weird lately." Somewhere deep in her mind suspicion was stirring to much like the feeling she had experienced every other year ehn Harry seemed to find trouble. She was about to engage Ron over the first signs that seemed to fortell a very strange and possibly dangerous year when Snape broke his silence to give them information in his usual greasy monotone.

"The reason you are to keep three vials to yourself is that you will be testing them in Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. So you better hope that you made it right and strong because the grade you receive on this potion will depend on how well you can apply the potion to the task in each class." He smirked at the last bit as he saw a few faces in the room fall. Only slightly surprising instead of Harry looking worried it was Hermione's face that contorted.

As Harry left the room with ease, as he was one of the few who didn't need to rush and turn the two items in, he found himself oddly intrigued by the potion wondering if it could see someone who had used the Polyjuice Potion and surprising himself he decided that after classes he would go to the library to research. But for now he was feeling a little better as he walked briskly to make it to Professor Binn's History class on time.

In contrast Hermione and Ron left the Potion's room with frowns plastered on their faces. "I can't believe I had to remake the potion!" Hermione protested. "If Harry hadn't distracted me I would have added the last ingredient at the right time and it would have turned out perfect and not in the least rushed. Now I'll probably get a mark off when it doesn't work to it's full use."

"Yeah, well at least you got the corret colour of blue. I don't think I was even close. That snarky bastard laughed at me and ten took ten points off for the wretchedly bright blue that I got." Ron was in quit a fool mood. "I mean even Neville got it right! And on the first try too!"

"Wait, he took points off for your's not being close enough to night blue?" Hermione asked astonished. "He didn't take points from Harry when he forgot to put his name on his vial."

"Are you kidding me? What because Malfoy's not here he's gone and picked new favorite? Malfoy definately did something to Harry, changed him." Ron said in disgust, appaled at the fact that Snape hadn't tormented Harry. "Come to think of it Snape didn't do anything to humiliate or annoy Harry the whole time.

"People are definately not acting right in the head." Hermione said in annoyance and not knowing what was going on. "We need to get to the bottom of this. I've got a bad feeling that you may be right, that Malfoy somehow changed Harry." They strood off with new found determination. "We're going to have to get some answers out of Harry of what really happened between him and Malfoy, they got along far to well."

Unfortunately, their planning had slowed their pace and by the time the arrived and History of Magic Harry was already surrounded by fellow Gryffindor's on everyside. So they resigned themselves to sit in the back to observe Harry just two rows back. It didn't quit work because soon after Professor Binn's had started his monotonous lecture Ron had fallen asleep on his folded arms drooling onto the table. Hermione frowned at him and was forced to pay her full attention to taking notes on the leture.

It seemed as Harry's day had started out awful that Hermione and Ron's day was doomed to end badly while Harry's day got better. With this trend Ron and Hermione were unable to catch even the briefest of moments to talk to Harry, he seemed to be able to just slip away from them as well as right out disappear at lunch to not resurface until Transfiguration.

"How does he keep evading us?" Hermione asked in awed frustration as they once again had been unable to sit next to Harry. It had been even harder to get even a row behind him because their Transfiguration class was also doubled with the Slytherins. What luck! It seemded that this would be the first class in which they were going to also test out their succees in making their potion to see through illusions.

When they had entered the class Hermione had noticed that Parkinson had chosen to sit near the door being careful to leave an open seat next to her, as if she were waiting for someone. _But who_, Hermione thought suspiciously to herself before sitting. A few minutes after class had begun and unbeknownts to Hermione another student entered discretely not even catching the attention of Professor McGonagall as they sat down close to the door.

"Okay, students as you may know you will be testing the potion you made today. The test will be administered one on one so that there won't be a chance of cheating. But what I will tell you is that you will be presented with multiple objects and you must pick out the object that has been transfigured. While I will be calling students one by one I expect that the other students will get a start on reading Chapters 3 and 4 as you should have finished the Prologue through Chapter 2 over the summer. By the end of class I will also expect that all of your summer homework will finds its way to my desk before you leave class today. I shall call on students randomly. First I'll start with . . . "

It wasn't Harry. So he fished out his Transfiguration textbook and began reading the assigned chapters. He would have laughed at the fact that he was actually working diligently but he wasn't quit in the mood for laughing, not yet. As it always happens when the teacher essentially leaves the room, the students feel more free in their movement and they began to chatter softly to their friends and to move around the classroom. Though they were sure not to make too much noise after all, McGonagall was very good at knowing when students were misbehaving or not following directions so they at least had their textbooks open in front of them to at least be able to pretend that they had been reading if and when she walked back in.

Hermione saw that their chance had finally come for them to talk to Harry, even if he didn't want to talk to them as it seemed he had been avoiding them. In all actuallity he hadn't been avoiding them at all not intentionally anyway, he had resigned himself to not being talked too. It took a while for the area around Harry to be cleared as the groups shifted from here to there as different people were called in. Hermione's first attempt was thwarted when Ron was called to test his potion. He came back in a more fowl mood then when they had left Potions.

When Ron made his way back to Hermione he didn't really feel like talking but clearly he hadn't chosen the right one. When Hermione and Ron stood behind him Harry was thrown off guard and couldn't quit focus on their inquiring faces and was momentarily distracted by Parkinson talking to a disheveled brown-haired mousy looking boy.

"Harry we need to talk--" However, Hermione wasn't able to get out any more words because just then Professor McGonagall had decided at that precise moment that it was Harry's turn to test his concoction. He remained glued to his seat for a moment more as he gave Hermione and Ron the strangest look of confusion mixed with disbelief before he retrieved one of his vials and proceeded to join the Professor in the adjoining room.

When he entered the room McGonagall greeted him with much more familiarty than she had with the general class. The room they were in was small and only contained one tabe that had five tea cups lined in a row, each one identical to the next, with one chair in front of the desk. "As you can see, there are five tea cups. After you drink the potion should be able to point out the one that has been transfigured. You can begin whenever you are ready."

He nodded with confidence as he sat in the lone chair and tipped back the contents of the vial. It was cool and seemed to flow up into his eyes creating a refreashing feeling, it also caused his eyes to water as though they were cleansing themselves. The tears fell down his face unnoticed as he was carefully looking at each of the cups. He had thouhgt that he would have to look over them more than once but was surprised that instead of seeing a fourth cup he saw a frightened looking guinea pig. He frowned to himself as he thought it would have been harder for some reason.

"Is somethign wrong?" Profesor McGonagall asked when she noticed that he was staring rather hardly at the fourth cup which was indeed the transfigured object.

"Well, no. I just thought it would be harder, it's the fourth one." Harry answered still staring intently at the fourth tea cup as if it was going to turn into the tea cup it really appeared to be without the potion.

"Very good, that was the fastest anyone has been able to find it even when I put it as the first cup." McGonagall smiled to herself but the smile faded when he still didn't move. "Are you really that surprised that your potion worked so well?"

"Well, yes actually." He responded finally standing up and parting his eyes from the cup and made his way back to the classroom.

"You should have more confidence. Now hurry along, I need to get through the last few student." She ushered him out of the door and called the next student which happened to be Hermione. Harry made his way to his seat without meeting Hermione's eyes as she passed him. He tried to go back to the chapters but he couldn't focus.

Hermione was still in there when class ended it seemed she had made it with some sort of delay that made it take a few minutes to take affect. Harry didn't feel like waiting to see what Hermione or Ron could have possible wanted to say so he didn't delay in packing his things into his bag to set off down the corridors to the next class. Just as he passsed the second to class row Hermione emerged from the room looking thoroughly frustrated. Harry had quickly pickied up the habit of walking with his head down when he bumped into someone.

"Sor--" Harry's eyes widdened to twice their normal size when he looked up and found himself speechless. McGonagall's voice began.

"Okay, the last student I will get to, don't groan I know the bell has rung but I will still do one more, will be--" The Professor's voice was lost on Harry's ears as he finished thesentence for her.

"Draco!?"

TBC


	13. Chapter 13: Potions and Lies

**Chapter 13: Potions and Lies**

So, I your grammar challenged author (I am so sorry about the last chapter I will definitely repost that at a later date), has recently started her long journey through college. But hopefully this won't make her any slower than she already is haha.

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"Draco!"

Much of the class had already left the classroom, as it was most of the students had made substandard potions ending with a failed attempt at identifying the transfigured cup. Coincidentally enough, the only students that lagged behind to see how the event was to unfold were Hermione and Ron while everyone else kept their heads down and their ears to their own business. Ron stayed because Hermione had stopped in front of him. She was squinting her eyes at the brown haired mousy boy and the harder she looked the more she realized that, in fact, the boy had white-blonde hair and finely formed facial features. It was Draco! Unfortunately, Ron had no idea what was going on because he had a completely screwed up his potion, instead he was swaying on his feet.

Disturbingly enough Draco made no acknowledgement that Harry had sad anything to him, choosing instead to brush roughly past Harry, knocking harshly into his shoulder. Harry recoiled from the contact and half turned as he saw Draco briskly walk towards Professor McGonagall with Pansy in tow.

"So much for making a discreet entrance. Thanks a lot Potter." Pansy spat at Harry as she passed him.

The surprise melted off of Harry's face to be quickly replaced by an utter look of despair. A look that struck Hermione to the deepest fiber of her heart, she forgot all the reasons she had been angry at Harry she wanted more than anything to be there for him in his time of need. She couldn't stand the severity of Harry's look and had to avert her eyes. Unfortunately, she couldn't enact her resolution to "be there for him" as Harry shadowed his face with a stony, glazed look as he dashed from the room while she was busy staring on the floor.

Hermione tried to chase Harry prevented by Ron who had chosen at that moment to pass out cold on the Transfiguration room floor, completely diverting Hermione's attention and resolve.

Harry didn't notice as the warm tears streamed down from his eyes. To be so blatantly ignored, Harry was at a complete loss for words. No, he couldn't lose his head over this, Draco must have his reasons. After all, he was disguised. Yet, Harry couldn't stop the tears from rolling one after another the world disappeared and faded to black all around him. No sound penetrated the thoughts that were racing through his mind. He followed the will of his legs that were leading him to the Room of Requirement for the second time that day. After three passes he entered the same room that he had been in that morning, the fire was blazing high but the warmth didn't reach him no matter how close he pulled the chair to the hearth. It was a comforting sight to him, but only in the least.

It felt like hours, and it very well could have, that he had sat there staring into the flickering and changing colors of the fire that never died. Eventually, his tears had all but dried leaving his mind numb. The crackling of the fire proved to be a relaxing rhythm that soothed him and evened out his breaths. Now his eyes weren't focused on much of anything as he allowed the thoughts to come the forefront of his mind.

Harry couldn't understand what Draco was up to, what was he talking to Pansy about? He had defected, or had Hermione's suspicions been truer than Harry would allow himself to believe? Harry almost laughed at himself, he was overreacting. _Look at me I blubbering over nothing, I don't even know what's going on. Why am I so affected?_ But Harry knew, at least a little bit, he cared about Draco he was his friend but so were Hermione and Ron so why wasn't he crying over them? _Pffh, they don't care about me they always ignore me at least once a year at least now I know once they get over themselves they'll be with me for the year._ Harry smirk at the sad truth of what he was saying, how weak it made their friendship seem.

But then hadn't he thought that Draco's friendship was stronger than that? Was Harry really that bad at making friends? Once again, he found himself cursing his "luck" at being the Boy-Who-Lived. What a horrible title to live with. But there was nothing he could to about his fate and there was nothing he could do about his utter solitude. He may have lived but nobody else seemed to notice him as something living, he was just an object to them.

He had wanted someone to be with, connect with. Anyone would do, though that would seem to be the very condition that was his undoing.

Harry raked his hand through his unruly hair to no avail. A heavy sigh left his lips as he knew he shouldn't think over it too long, else it should consume his already weary mind. He took comfort in knowing that Transfiguration had been his last class for the day and leaned back into the plush covering of the chair, allowing his mind to drift into the haze of sleep. And for the second time that day, his eyes drifted shut.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ron had been transported to the infirmary accompanied by Hermione to meet a thoroughly peeved Snape at having been interrupted in his time away from the presence of the insufferable students. As Hermione entered by the side of Ron's floating body, Snape was tapping his foot and billowing as usual and he wasn't about to hold back on the patronizing lecture.

"Perhaps Mr. Weasley should have paid a little more attention to his potion than trying to stare at Ms. Granger all of class." Snape snidely remarked drawing a blush to Hermione's checks. "Ms. Granger, I advise you not to sit next to Mr. Weasley any longer. From now on I expect you to sit next to Mr. Longbottom. Now if you would take your leave I'll help Ms. Pomfrey figure out what went wrong with Mr. Weasley's potion." At that Snape stared pointedly at Hermione until she finally turned around and left the room.

_Tch, this has nothing to do with me. It was Harry who distracted us—no, _Hermione extinguished that train of thought, _I can't think like that. It was our own fault for not being diligent enough._ However, for the moment she wasn't able to do anything as she had no idea where Harry was and for the moment she couldn't talk to Ron about much of anything. She was forced to resign herself to retire in the Gryffindor common room.

Upon entering the portrait of the Fat Lady, Hermione plopped down in the closest chair to the opening, intent on intercepting Harry before he could hide himself. At first she thought that perhaps he had already gone up to his room, she was about to check but as if on cue, Neville walked down the stairs that lead to the dorms and asked her if she had seen Harry. As she had not, he quietly returned to his dorm. Hermione sat and sat, eventually she took out her homework confident that she wouldn't miss him even if she wasn't staring avidly at the entrance.

The hours passed with no sign of Harry but she had yet to start worrying. She had finished her potions essay and it was closing in on 10 o'clock when the portrait swung open. She was on the edge, expecting to see Harry any moment but instead it was Ron. Though she was relieved, she had really hoped it would be Harry. She smiled softly at Ron.

"Finally better?" She laughed. Ron just grumbled and fell into the seat beside her. "Harry hasn't come back yet. Where could he be?"

"Look, forget about it Hermione, he'll turn up when he wants to be found." Ron ordered roughly.

"Ron! Didn't you see? Draco is back. Couldn't you see the dejected look on Harry's face when he pushed right past him?! How can you be so selfish?" Hermione's words stung him but he took in her words nonetheless.

"Yeah, whatever." Ron responded weakly. "I was kind of busy passing out because of the crappy potion I made because he distracted us." He was scowling at Hermione but when she just look at him in protest his face fell to be followed by an awkward silence.

"Ron, it wasn't his fault we mad sub-par potions. You need to take your responsibilities more seriously and stop blaming other people. My turned out badly because I was busy being angry at Harry when I should have been focusing." Hermione strongly reasoned, not letting Ron continue in his self-pitying state.

"How is it that you're taking his side again?! Don't you remember anything that happened over the summer?" Ron asked incredulously. "You were balling! You're the one that said we shouldn't be bothered by him!"

"Don't be so childish!" Hermione may as well have screamed the words, for her whispered accusation lashed out at him making his resolute tone falter. "Yes, I remember and I know what I said. But Ron you have to think for yourself! You can't just take whatever I say at face value. You must remember that we were—are friends! How is it so easy for you and me to forget that we _are_ Harry's friends? What does that say about us?" The more she spoke the weaker her voice became the realization of their fragility was shocking but even more so, it was saddening. Her eyes misted as she buried her face in her hands unable to look Ron or herself.

Ron heard everything she said, feeling wave after wave of guilt crash against him weighing him down and curving his spine. The insurmountable weight was blanketed by an ominous silence in which they both tried not to think of how alone they had made Harry feel; afraid of feeling even worse. After an eternity Ron lifted his head just above the drowning waters around him to look at Hermione's downcast head.

"Should we look for him?" His eyes ventured to meet Hermione's but she had turned her gaze back to the backside of the portrait that stayed shut against her wishes that it would open.

After a few more moments of intense staring and hoping, Hermione sighed, letting her shoulders slump forward in defeat. "No, Ron. Not tonight, he'll come back. He just needs time." Her last sentence came out more as a question than a statement, Ron just nodded as they stood up from their seats and he patted her shoulder in an attempt to console her.

"Yeah, he'll come around. Don't worry." Ron was being nice but he just wanted to get some sleep on top of all his new found guilt they had their first Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow and he wasn't looking forward to automatically failing that part of his grade because his potion had been so bad that Snape had forbade him from using it again and had already given him a zero.

As Ron made his way up to his dorm, he felt a pang of jealousy that shot through the layers of guilt. He couldn't help but notice how Hermione always seemed to be thinking about Harry. Anything Harry did made her happy, worry, cry or any number of other emotions, Ron never elicited anything but annoyance from Hermione. It wasn't fair, Hermione was supposed to like him; she had told him she liked him over the summer! He couldn't understand her complacency toward him and her borderline obsession with Harry. The more he thought about it the more he wanted to hate Harry, hate him for making a perfect potion and distracting him and Hermione, for being stupid and trusting the damn Malfoy. When was Harry going to learn? Ron clenched his fists in anger and barely held himself back from slamming the door open as he entered the dorm. The sight of Harry's empty bed disgusted, _he's a damn coward he's running away from everyone. He can't stand that he's done something so stupid and didn't see Malfoy's betrayal coming. If I help you, it's only because Hermione wants too._

* * *

Sleep had been kind to Harry, he had slept with no hint of a dream, or nightmare, to clutter his mind with what could have been and what could be. When he finally opened his heavy lids the first thing he saw was the still blazing fire, unchanged since he last looked at its colorful flames. He smiled to himself; he was grateful for the little consistency he had been provided. Though he noticed that the fire still didn't feel warm to him, the heat couldn't seem to get out of the hearth leaving him to huddle further into his robes and himself.

While he rubbed his hands together he looked up at the grandfather clock that was standing in a little alcove formed by a small break in bookshelves, it was quietly ticking away the seconds and minutes. Harry found to his surprise that it was well past midnight! He couldn't understand how he had slept for so long, he had even missed dinner. As the shock passed he figured he might as well stay in the Room of Requirement instead of wandering the halls back to Gryffindor Tower.

When he got up to search for somewhere to stretch out he found that a bed had found itself stationed in a corner opposite the door and hearth, it even had a pair of pajamas neatly laid on the plush pillows. Harry yawned to himself despite his long nap as he made his way to the comfortable looking bed. He was soon in the appropriate attire and snuggled deep in the layers of sheets. _I'll just get up extra early to get my books and— _at that Harry was once more taken by sleep, to be comforted by the silence.

Harry woke up with faded light streaming through a far away window situated in the high levels of the many shelves, unseen but for the light it produced. It felt as though he had closed his eyes and rolled over into the morning. He checked the ever still grandfather clock which told him that it was nearing 6:30am, he had plenty of time to collect his supplies for the day. Hopefully he would be able to do so without being noticed by his fellow Gryffindor's. Changing back into his school robes, he padded his way out of the blessed room and through the hall and up the myriad and ever changing stairways that would lead him to his destination.

He arrived at the portrait and meet a snoozing fat lady which he attempted to wake up quietly. "Hey, hey." But she wasn't responding so he prodded the portrait a few times.

"Watch what you're poking at!" The fat lady admonished. "Now what is it that you would like—oh, Harry, I didn't see you come in last night."

"Yes, yes. I know." Harry quickly countered. "Chudley Cannons." He rushed the password eager to get inside. Even as he said it he smiled to himself on an unconscious level more than anything else, as it was (if you haven't guessed) Ron's password and a ridiculously obvious one at that. He prepared to step through the entrance but the fat lady never swung forward.

"I'm sorry child that's not the password anymore." She stated plainly. "Now, if you have no more guesses, I'll be going back to sleep."

_What?! Why would they change it already? Crap—_Harry was cut-off mid-thought when the portrait swung out and nearly knocked him to the ground, he had just enough time to stumble backwards when he got his answer. Standing awkwardly in the entrance was a very sleep deprived Hermione who had, from the looks of it, not gone to bed when Ron left the common room. Though she tried not to look tired the tell-tale insomniac bags under her eyes revealed the truth.

"Harry," She exclaimed in mock surprise at having encountered him at such an early hour. "I was just going to take a bath in the prefects' bathroom. Where—"

"Without a clean change of clothes?" Harry caught her in her lie. "Don't bloody pretend around me. Either get to the point or leave me alone. Wait scratch that, just leave me alone." He didn't emphasize a single syllable and spoke to her as if she was just another wizard. He intentionally slide past her with caution, without a hint of rudeness or contempt. "Oh, and next time can you send some sort of memo when you change the password?" He ask her in a sickly sweet tone, not even looking over his shoulder and turning back to hear a reply.

Unfortunately for Harry, Hermione wasn't thrown off by his passive aggressive tone, well not enough to stop her from pursuing him. In fact his attitude just consolidated the fact (in her mind) that he needed her and Ron more than ever. Not that she took in account that it was their fault for leaving him when he needed them most. As he bounded up the spiral stairs to his dorm where he hoped to Merlin Ron wasn't awake, Hermione wasn't far behind.

"Harry, you can't run away from us forever." Hermione tried to reason. "We have essentially the same classes together and the ones that I don't have with you, you have with Ron. So you might as well stop all this and—"

At this Harry whirled around mid-stride causing Hermione to stop abruptly, almost falling into him. "And what Hermione? Give in? I'm not the one that's being unreasonable you and Ron sailed that boat eons ago. You were the ones that _left_ me, stopped talking to me all because you didn't know everything." Hermione's eyes watered; once again she was being called a know-it-all, someone who can't keep to herself. But she wasn't about to let herself cry not again. She resolutely lifted her eyes to look into Harry's and was on the verge of arguing but he wasn't about to let her have another word. "Now it's too late _Granger_, I don't have time for you or your nauseating ways." And to put salt on the wounds: "I thought you guys were my friends. But your just like everyone else."

His eyes were stone cold and the once emerald green eyes were shadowed in darkness. They were completely unreflective pools of black that chilled Hermione to the marrow. She couldn't say anything, she couldn't even move. He seemed to be staring at her ugly and twisted soul for an eternity and when she thought she couldn't take it any longer without going mad he had already made it up the rest of the stairs. Hermione collapsed on the steps and took deep breaths in an attempt to even out her head.

A moment later and Ron was calling her name. "Hermione." But she didn't look up the first time. "Hermione." She looked up with confused eyes. "What's wrong with you? You look like you've just been hit in the head by a bludger."

"I—I was talking to Harry." She explained in an airy tone staring at nothing in front of her.

"Okay, and—" He tried to coax more out of her but she just sat there. "Wait, is he in the room?" Without waiting for her answer he dashed back up the stairs. _How did I not see him?_ Just as he reached the door Harry was standing there almost like he was waiting, thought that was very unlikely as he was very intent on avoiding them and on getting some food as he hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day.

"What, is this round two?" He queried contemptuously. "Look, like I told Granger, leave me alone." The use of Hermione's last name froze Ron to the spot but for an instant. Harry was about to slip past him when he blocked his way. "Weasley, did you not hear me?"

"Harry, stop it. What's wrong—" Ron stopped to rethink his word choice before Harry got the wrong idea. "Hermione's sorry, she knows it was wrong to—to—" He couldn't find the right word. Harry did.

"Abandon."

"Yeah, look mate. Can't we just talk or something. I didn't really see what happened at the end of Transfigurations , you know, 'cause of the whole 'crappy potion has side effects' thing." He tried to laugh but Harry was having none of the 'happy-buddy-buddy-lets-start-over' act. "But Hermione told me how Malfoy just brushed you off like—"

Ron may have been trying to be endearing but Harry still didn't want to hear it—not yet at least. He tried again to get away, this time Ron let him go. "Think about it. We may be crappy friends but we're still your friends, right?" He wore a lopsided smile but it was lost on Harry as he quickly descended the stairs, ignoring Hermione who was still immobile on his way down.

Harry exhaled loudly as he made his way out of the portrait to make his way to the Great Hall; he was starving. He couldn't believe it, they were so quick to judge and thought that if they said 'hey sorry' that everything is forgiven. Well, that's not how it was going to work, not this time around. He couldn't keep up with them and their every changing minds. It drove him crazy, he'd rather be alone and that's how he was going to keep it. He made his way to breakfast without having run into a single student or professor for that matter. He would have smiled at the gift but he didn't really care to smile.

Upon entering the Great Hall no one batted an eye in his direction. He swiftly sat down and piled as many waffles and pieces of bacon as he could onto his plate and he was just about to enjoy it when he heard a familiar voice.

"Hello, Harry. Would you like a lemondrop?"

Harry turned to the voice and formed what he hoped was a convincing smile that would impart the impression of nonchalance, "No, that's alright Professor Dumbledore. I was just looking forward to my bacon and waffles." Though Harry wanted to eat in silence, Dumbledore sat down across from him smiling at him through his half-moon glasses.

"I heard you missed you're first Charms class?" He asked with a giggle. "Not a very good way to start the new year." His warm face put Harry at a bit of ease, even though he knew that Dumbledore had acted strangely over the summer, Dumbledore was the only one who was there, even if he was clouded with mystery and possibly ulterior motives. "I also heard that you've been abnormally behaved—haha, you won't believe where I heard that."

Harry didn't really have a response, he noticed how social interaction wasn't really his thing, especially when he wasn't—dare he think it—with Hermione or Ron around. _No, Granger and Weasley._ So instead he just blinked at Dumbledore.

"Professor Snape, Harry." Dumbledore laughed again, this time more of a self-amused chortle. "He was quit astonished when you were the first to be done with your potion. He even thought your summer homework was wonderful, well he said 'passable' but you Snape." Harry couldn't find any words; he was shocked and probably just as shocked as Snape had been. "Oops. But don't tell him I told you. It'll be our secret." The old man giggled to himself as he got up from the table to talk to some first year students that were still nervous about being in school.

Unfortunately, Harry didn't have anyone to share the news with he didn't even entertain the idea of telling Hermione and Ron who just so happened to be entering the Great Hall. Much to his chagrin they sat down near him, not quite next to him but close enough to make Harry uncomfortable. They each looked t him but other than that they didn't acknowledge him, though Harry could feel that they were willing him to talk to them. But he wasn't ready, if he ever allowed himself to be ready.

As breakfast continued more people flowed in and out of the room but someone was missing. Harry was trying to quiet the ill feeling that something bad was going to happened when he nearly jumped out of skin when Ron asked him a question.

"Sorry ma—, I was just wondering if you could pass me the orange juice." He didn't want to crowd Harry and had almost slipped by saying mate, after all things couldn't just snap back to the way they had been. Harry wordlessly handed him the orange juice, careful not to make any contact, not even with his eyes.

Soon after Harry got up to start walking to Divinations, he was glad that only Ron would be in the class with him, that way he wouldn't feel so claustrophobic. Ron deftly rose from the table to shadow him. Harry had almost reached the exit when Draco stormed through, right into Harry. They both recoiled violently but only Harry collapsed to the floor.

"What they bloody hell is wrong with you Potter? You should watch where you're going else my fist should find its way into your face." Draco's words were laced with venom as he spat them at Harry. "What? Cat got your tongue?" He strode off without a second glance at Harry, not that Harry would have noticed. At the moment he wasn't registering much of anything, he was shaking so hard that he couldn't stand up. Unable to ask anyone for help Harry buried his head in his knees hoping to Merlin that no one was looking at him.

Ron knew sadly that this was his opening to get to Harry he signaled Hermione, who had also been watching to stay where she was. He quietly approached Harry and knelt down beside him, gently resting his hand on Harry's quaking back. "Come on Harry, let's go to Divinations." He nimbly laced his arm under Harry's and lifted him from the ground. "I wonder what crazy predictions Professor Trelawney will have today."

Ron wanted so badly to have chased after that damn Malfoy and pummel the crap out of him but he knew that he would have to wait. He could barely believe how Harry had reacted to Malfoy's words, he had never seen Harry so distraught and at a loss for words. He wanted to know so badly what had happened between them over the summer. The more they walked the less Harry leaned on Ron and eventually he was walking himself though at a considerably slow pace. Ron watched as Harry's face became an impenetrable mask and was amazed at how skillfully Harry had wiped his face clean of any signs of what had just transpired.

What Ron didn't know was that Harry was thinking, hard, at how he was going to get to the bottom of Draco. He wasn't going to get caught off guard again. He had to know what was going on, he had trusted Draco whole-heartedly over the summer and he still believed in him now, despite his actions. He knew that Draco was being more aggressive and cold then he had ever been to Harry, so, Harry deduced, he couldn't possibly mean; Draco must be acting. But why? Unfortunately, at that exact moment he realized that he could only have one or the other; Hermione and Ron or Draco. There was no way that they would stick understand if he tried to figure out Draco, they would think more than ever that Draco had done something to him.

Harry was becoming increasingly frustrated when Ron cautiously broke his trance, "Harry, it's time to climb the ladder." He sighed with relief as he would be able to be distracted by Professor Trelawney's prattling and foretellings of death, destruction and the general doomedness of everyone.

"Good morning, students. Oh, Harry how I've worried for you." Trelawney's misty voice was laced with the over-dramatic death tone that everyone was used to ignoring. "Sickness and a heavy heart wait for you in the near future my poor child, I've seen that you will suffer a great illness. Oh, Harry."

"How will I cope?" Harry inquired mockingly. "I wouldn't want to strain the worries of others, especially not you Professor Trelawney that would be terrible selfish of me." He was matching dramatics with deft skill. In fact, he had acted so well that Trelawney, not that she's the quickest to catch on, couldn't pick up on the underlying scoffing tone. Which made Harry—and Ron—crack up laughing when they had found their way to a low table in the back after she had exclaimed her deep concern and how she was astonished at how well he was handling the terribly awful news.

When they realized that they were laughing together, Ron bashfully looked away. But Harry stared at Ron and he wouldn't let up until Ron meet his eyes. Ron was surprised to see a friendly face directed at him. "I don't understand?"

Now it was Harry's turn to break the connection. "Ha, I don't know if I can forgive you but I guess I'm willing to try again. I guess it's not in me to not be your friend." This was how it had to be if he wanted to get everything he wanted. "Though I will man-up and apologize for being an—"

"Stop, Harry." Ron whispered. "Don't apologize, you have nothing to apologize for you don't have to explain yourself to us. If anything I should apologize for being a prick who can't think for himself." Harry tilted his head at that. "If I had thought for myself maybe I wouldn't have ignored you like Hermione, she was just really hurt and I foolish thought that I had to choose her side because you were on Malfoy's side."

"It never should have come down to sides." Harry pointed out. This talk of sides made Harry painfully aware of how ironic it all was when the truth of it was that they were all on the same side; the good side. "I really want to sort this out so that we're all the same page but there is still something I have to do."

Ron was thrown off by this, "Okay." He hadn't expected it to work out so nicely, relatively speaking. "I—I trust you Harry." He really did mean it and he hoped that Harry wouldn't get offended. At to his pleasure Harry smiled.

"Thank you. Please don't change your mind on that again." Harry laughed but Ron knew that he was serious and he stared into Harry's eyes to let him know that he meant it and that he wasn't going to break that trust again.

Their 'moment' was interrupted when Professor Trelawney swooped down upon them and asked they why they hadn't retrieved a tea cup yet as they were going to review the reading of tea leaves. They rushed off the collect the necessary items and sat back at their secluded table. They didn't even pay attention to what they were doing.

"So um," Ron was struggling to start a normal conversation that wouldn't rehash hard feelings. "How come you weren't at Charms? We learned a real neat trick, though I can't really remember what it was 'cause I didn't get it right, you'd have to ask— the Professor next class we'll probably be doing the same thing." Harry laughed at how Ron was being—well being Ron.

"I was sleeping." When Ron gave him a quizzical look he continued. "In the Room of Requirement, I was up early and I just kind of ended up there." He shrugged and went back to poking at the mysterious looking contents in his teacup. "Well, Ron. I think you'll have a bout of explosive diarrhea after someone stabs your eye with a french fry." He looked at Ron with mock sympathy and they both burst into laughter. This unfortunately drew the attention of their nosey professor.

"What is this commotion about?! Fortunes are not suppose to be comical they are very serious1" She screeched at them.

"I know Professor." Harry tried his hardest to content his humor but it had been so long since he had laughed this hard not since—"Fortunes _are _extremely painful like I was telling Ron he is going to get his eye stabbed out and then—"

He was cut off by Trelawney's scream and half-collapse as she looked into Ron's teacup. "Oh Harry." (_wow _two_ foretellings all in one class she is on a role_ )"It seems that you will be lost to us, searching, searching oh but will you get to the end? My boy, poor boy, I fear you won't find your way out of this world alive." With that exclamation she fled to the front of the classroom to lament the future loss of a student.

All eyes were on Harry at the death sentence, not that he hadn't heard something to the effect every other year, so the class soon drifted back to what they were doing when there were on more exciting revelations on how Harry's was to die.

"Crazy old bat." Ron chortled. "All I see in this cup is a bunch of lines."

The rest of class was unmarred by any further outbursts from Professor Trelawney who had moved on to tell the occasionally student that they would fail this class or their pet was going to die, you know cheery things the people just love to hear. Harry and Ron were looking through their texts at all the possible things you could see and what they meant, laughing at the occasional picture example that looked like an indecipherable and ominous Rorschach test.

When they packed up to make their way to Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, Harry was in a considerably better mood and he hoped that Hermione wouldn't ruin it for them. Though the more they walk the stronger the itch grew in Harry, he didn't want to wait he needed to figure everything out now and he wanted so bad to ask Ron about Draco but it was too early. He needed to follow his plan—the one he hadn't really worked out any of the hard details, it was more of a bullet point list-and a short list at that.

"Geez Harry, chill you're practically vibrating." Ron was wary about Harry's behavior everything was fixed, for the most part, but Harry was still acting strange. "At least try to hear what Hermione has to say, she is sorry." At that Harry seemed to calm down but what Ron didn't know is that Harry wasn't listening to a word he'd said he was focused on something else.

"Yeah, yeah." He said airily. "I think I forgot one of my books for Herbology. You go on ahead I'll be right back." Ron nodded and did as he as he was told, with only a quick 'I'll see you there.' over his shoulder. Harry darted done the adjacent hallway, it was empty. He froze and narrowed his eyes in concentration, there! He crept deftly down the hallway and paused as he arrived at a corner placing his back against the wall to listen. He was right! Harry jumped around the corner and would have screamed 'Ah ha!' but that would have been far to cliché. Instead he just stood there and stared.

"Potter didn't I warn you what I would do if I saw you again." Malfoy's drawl queried. Harry thought they were alone but somebody must be nearby so he 'played along'.

"Sorry, sorry thought you were someone else." He responded in mock surprise hoping that eventually Draco would stop coming at him but he didn't and before he knew it he was on the cold floor with a bloody lip. "What the hell! No one's here D—"

"Keep the bloody hell away from me Potter." The venom was still there at it stung Harry more than the pain in his swelling lower lip.

Harry stared at Draco's retreating form, _Well, that doesn't fit. No he's not going to get one past me. _Great! Now how was he going to explain a bloody lip to Ron? After he sat in deep concentration, Harry finally figured that enough time had elapsed that it would look as if he had really retrieved something. But what to do with the bloody lip? He didn't have enough time to get Madam Pomfrey to fix it so he supposed he should try a simple charm to hide it . . . but he couldn't remember any. That left him with one option; lie.

His case wasn't helped when he walked out the entrance of the Great Hall to make his way to the greenhouse when he ran into the person he still didn't want to see; Hermione. And of course, she immediately pointed out the blatantly obvious facts.

"Sweet Merlin Harry! What happened to your lip, it's still bleeding?" She hadn't wanted to bombard her with her presence right of the back but she couldn't help it when she saw his wound. And then she started to draw her own conclusions, as usual, "Don't tell me Ma—"

"Why are you talking to me Granger? I thought I told you to leave me alone and not to accuse people of things when you don't know all the facts." Harry was so surprised; for once it seemed Ron was being the mature one while Hermione hadn't changed at all. "I forgot a book in my chest and when I went to open the chest I got distracted and it ended up in my face and a painfully fast speed." He was aware that he was lying and felt the part of a hypocrite but that was the way it had to be to straighten everything out. There was no other way.

Harry increased his pace and let Hermione fall behind. When he got the greenhouse he made sure that he was surrounded, taking his place between Ron and Neville. Where he was meet by another onslaught of worry.

"What happened to your face mate?" Ron asked in humor.

"Got in a fight with a trunk." Harry smiled, he was happy that Ron wasn't saying anything stupid or trying to find an ulterior reason. Ron didn't even bat an eye; he just hoped that Draco wouldn't bring it up later.

Harry didn't even notice when Hermione walked in moments later and took the only spot left in the back. She stared at the back of his head trying to get his attention, to make him face her. But it wasn't working he was joyfully chatting with Neville and Ron. _Ho could he forgive Ron so easily, he barely has a mind of his own_. The more she thought the more bitter she became; it was her idea, her brilliant conclusion that they should never have ignored Harry so long. She was the one that convinced Ron and yet he was reaping all the benefits while she was left in the cold and the dark. And she couldn't help but feel that he was lying to her. But at the moment there was nothing she could do about it she just had to wait until lunch which seemed so far away.

"Well, we got off easy." Ron sighed at the end of class. "We only got a foot long essay on the uses of aconite."

"I'm just excited for lunch." Harry grumbled.

"Ha, usually Ron's the one that's always hungry." Much to Harry's disappointment it was Hermione who had chimed in. "So did you guys have fun in Divinations this morning." She was trying so hard but Harry's face fell into a scowl because she kept trying to start over without ever apologizing, trying to act as though nothing had happened. Ron tried to bridge the gap.

"Yeah, loads of fun. Harry's going to die twice over and I'm going to get my eye stabbed out by a french fry and have explosive diarrhea—hey Harry what's a french fry anyways?" Ron looked quizzically at Harry after all, it's not like Ron's ever been to a fast food restaurant.

"Remind me to take you to McDonalds one of these days." Harry laughed half-heartedly.

"McDonalds?" Ron just became more confused and would have stopped walking if Harry hadn't dragged him along by is sleeve. "Hungry, Ron. Need food now."

Hermione frowned at herself, "Harry, come on give me a break you didn't really make it easy."

"And you didn't really trust me, so I don't think I care." Harry snapped. "Unlike you, I take trust very seriously."

Hermione wasn't about to give in, not now. "We trusted you not to be stupid and yet you still let Malfoy trick."

"Fine you wanna talk?! What do you want to talk about? You want to talk about how you got all chummy with Draco to, how you didn't say anything to warn me against his inevitable 'betrayal'? How you wouldn't listen to a word that I said after he disappeared? Why couldn't you just believe me and believe in the trust I have in him? Why is that so hard for you to handle? Forget it, if you want to be friends what should I care you'll do it all by yourself whether I pay attention to you or not. So what the hell, I'll have a poser friendship with you. Now will you please just shut up we're almost at the tables and I would really like to eat."

"I will trust you if you just—" Hermione tried.

"'_Will'? _What do you mean '_will_'? If I'm your friend there shouldn't be conditions or prerequisites to trust." Harry bellowed. He couldn't believe her! She just didn't get it did she, she couldn't just trust him because hey, it's not like he hasn't saved her life time after time, no of course, that means nothing.

"Just tell us why you trust him so much." She pleaded but to no avail, that was the one thing that Harry wouldn't tell her. He couldn't tell her not now, not with how Draco was behaving she'd just think that he had been pretending and that she had been right all along. He needed to talk to Draco now. But if he ever wanted anything to go back to the way it was he needed to patient and so did Hermione.

"Heh," He laughed as he lowered his head. "Maybe but you have to trust me and you have to wait." He had given Hermione some hope and she was shocked, even Ron's jaw dropped. She didn't want to wait but she had to. While they were absorbing the shocking revelation Harry had already sat down and started to shovel food onto his plate.

Through lunch they were able to carry-on a semi-regular conversation only getting mildly awkward at times. Hermione left early as she needed to get to her Ancient Runes class before she was late and she left in a better mood then she had been in a while. Shortly after she left Draco walked through the door shadowed by his dense cohorts and Harry sensed that he was going to say something incredibly scathing but at that same moment Ginny slid over to take Hermione's empty seat just across him and Draco walked straight toward his house table. Harry was thankful that Ron didn't see him enter.

"Hi Harry," Ginny greeted him an a subdued manner. "You excited for your first Defense Against the Dark Arts class?" She gave him a weak smile that told him she was getting better. And when Ron was distracted by Seamus she whispered to him. "Thank you."

Harry was astounded by Ginny, she was coping so well. "Uh, yeah." And she wasn't getting angry or accusatory. "I'm just curious to see who the new teacher will be. How have your classes been so far, Ginny?"

"Good, I only have one class with Slytherin." She smiled at the small treasure. "Ron told me that you guys have three classes with Slytherin." She looked at him as he puzzeled over what she had told him."

"Three? We have Potions and Transfiguration with them—what?! Are you telling me that there in our Defense class too?" Harry's tone was a little more excited than disappointed which confused Ginny and Ron who had started listening, after all, he has no reason to excited. Noticing them looking at him he quickly continued. "Uh, so I wonder how we're going to b expected to use our potion in Defense class."

"Potion?"

"Yeah, it's actually a pretty cool potion too, Ginny. Well, when it's made right." Ron explained to his curious sister as Harry laughed. "Mr. Potion's Master over here made it perfect on the first try, he was even the first one to finish in the whole class."

"Wow."

"Hey, Ron, how about we get started on that Herbology homework before Defense class?" Harry asked joyfully.

"And I thought Hermione didn't affect you, you've become a study nut like her!" Ron exclaimed. "Next thing I know you're gonna make me start taking my own notes in class and doing homework on my own!" Harry couldn't help but laugh at his friend's put-out tone.

"Well, if you don't get your ass up to the library with me to work I might just do that." Harry threatened playfully. "See you around Ginny." They waved good-bye to her and made their way up to the library."

* * *

"See, that wasn't so bad Ron. You got your essay done and now we can take our time in getting to class _and _tomorrow you won't have much, if anything, to do." Harry reasoned to an out-of-sorts Ron. Ever since they had finished their essay on aconite Ron had been staring dreamily off into space, utterly amazed at how productive he had been.

"How come I've never been that productive around Hermione?" Ron finally asked.

"Because you were too busy looking at her." Harry contended which made the guilt party blush. "What aren't you two boyfriend-girlfriend yet after what happened over summer?" He laughed when Ron made no response other than to blush even deeper from ear to ear.

"Hey, I wasn't the only one getting put on the spot you—" But just as he was about to finished he noticed that Harry had stopped walking. He thought this was odd because they had just reached the doorway of the classroom which usually isn't the best time to stop walking. What he didn't notice, yet again, is what Harry was looking at. At the front of the classroom Draco was walking toward Hermione.



"What are you doing next to my band Granger? I don't want your disgusting presence to dirty my things so if you shove off—" He snidely commanded as he descended upon her with a chilling air.

"No. I will not move not until I tell you," At this Draco was about to laugh and remark how he would never listen to anything she had to say when she rushed on in the deadliest of whispers. "Harry told me why he trusts you." So it had been an open-faced lie but Draco had no way of knowing this, after all, he hadn't been there to see the fallout after his disappearance.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as he whirled around on his heels to throw Harry the most betrayed look he had ever seen. Harry just stared back at him in utter confusion, he hadn't heard what Hermione had said but with the look a feeling of dread spread through him screaming at him to run to Draco but he didn't have time as for at that exact moment the professor decided to join his class.

"Alright class, everyone take a seat." Oddly familiar voice tore Harry's attention away from Draco who was now standing strangely alone; Hermione had slithered off to her seat with her bag that was on the other side of the classroom but still in the front room. When Harry turned his gaze to the professor he realized that he was looking at none other than Remus Lupin! "You too Harry, we need to get class started we have a fun lesson planned as I'm sure you expect." Harry obediently took a seat next to Ron who had found his way to Hermione while Harry had been thoroughly distracted by Draco.

"As you are well aware, you will be testing the potion you made yesterday for the second time now. Though by now you should know whether it will work or not and to what degree through the outcome of your first test in Transfigurations." He grinned to himself at the various states of the looks upon his students' faces ranging from elated to anxious. "I don't want to affect how you perform during the test that will take place in the adjacent room by telling you ahead of time so I will just be calling you one by one. Oh, and if you think that you can tell your friends who have faulty potions what to do ahead of time you won't be able to because I will be placing a temporary charm on you that will prevent you from communicating in any way what happened in the test room." His smile got bigger as even more of the students grumbled in practical unison. "I will call you and when you get to the door you will drink your potion. Mr. Longbottom you're up first."

Before the door shut he added one more rule. "You'll have a max time limit of ten minutes for the test."

When Lupin had shut the door to the test room on him and Neville, Harry practically assaulted Hermione with his question. "What the bloody hell did you say to D-Malfoy." He figured he should at least pretend to not think of Draco as a friend. Hermione looked violated for but a brief moment before she lied through her teeth.

"I just told him not to touch you. Harry I saw how you shook after he pushed you to the ground." She made her tone very seriously so that he knew she was trying to help without actually doing anything rash. "And maybe I made a threat with that or maybe not." He had no idea what she was up to so he grudgingly believed him with no other alternative. He tried to glance at Draco but he wouldn't look up, in fact he had become rather fidgety and nervous looking.

"What the hell'd you threaten him with 'Mione? He's shaking like a leaf over there." Ron asked incredulously. She just smirk at him which made him shiver. "Remind me never to piss you off."

When Neville came out of the test room he was beaming as Lupin patted him on the shoulder. He called the next student and they went in and out. It didn't seem to take very long though it ranged from three minutes all the way up to ten minutes.

"I wonder why the times vary so much." Hermione pondered aloud to herself.

Harry off-handedly responded. "It's probably because of the differences in quality. The better it's made the quicker it works as long as the potion hasn't deviated too much at which point it would flat out not work." Ron and Hermione stared at him like he had two heads. "What?" In the middle of their absorption Hermione was called to go. "Good luck."

"Too bad you can't go Ron." Harry tried to console his friend who had made a light blue paste that had rendered him unconscious for a few hours.

"Don't remind me, Harry." Ron burrowed his head in his arms on the table. It didn't stay there long because three minutes later and a strained looking Hermione came out of the room with a weak smile. They just smiled at each other as they knew she wouldn't be able to talk about what the test was or how it went.

After a few Slytherins had been called it was finally Harry's turn. "Mr. Potter," Lupin said in his best teacher voice. "it's your turn, drink your potion please." When Harry entered the room he realized that it was more of a spacious closet with one tiny window to his right that let in a bit of light. Once the door shut it was the only light source. On the other side of the room was an open box with a disgusting substance inside.

"What is that Professor?" Harry asked with a pungent look. "I've never smelt anything so repulsive."

"Really, what do you see?" Lupin asked with curious delight.

"A box of nasty liquid stuff." Harry answered warily.

"Good, you pass." At that Lupin ushered him out the door; it hadn't even been a minute since he had entered the room.

Harry walked back to his seat, he hadn't even noticed the Professor place the charm on him, and he sat down in surprise with a hint of confusion. He had no idea what had just happened or for that matter what didn't happen. He was so consumed with his amazed delight at his success that he didn't even hear Draco's name get called but he sure did hear him leave.

Not a minute after Draco had entered the room, there a came an ear shattering cry emanate from the test room that called everyone to attention. The students started to whisper amongst themselves trying to figure out what had happened. Seconds after the scream, Lupin was running out of the room cradling an unconscious and convulsing Draco in his arms.

TBC!!


End file.
